Masterworks Program Book

PALM BEACH SYMPHONY

2025-26

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Guitarrista,

2025-26 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

SCHOOL SHOW 1: A TV GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

Tuesday, September 30, 10:30 A.M.

Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center at Palm Beach State College

SCHOOL SHOW 2: A TV GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

Friday, October 3, 10:30 A.M.

Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach State College

FAMILY CONCERT: A TV GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

Sunday, October 5, 3:00 P.M.

Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

SCHOOL SHOW 3: A TV GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

Monday, October 20, 10:30 A.M.

Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

Young Friends Season Kick-Off Cocktail Party

Wednesday, October 22, 5:30 P.M.

Meat Market, Palm Beach

PRE-HOLLY JOLLY GIFT GATHERING PARTY

Thursday, October 23, 6:00 P.M.

Palm Beach Design Masters, Palm Beach

PALM BEACH SYMPHONY

SEASON KICK-OFF PARTY (Members Only)

Monday, November 3, 6:00 P.M. Club Colette, Palm Beach

LUNCH AND LEARN #1: Claudio Jaffé, Principal Cello

Thursday, November 6, 12:00–1:30 P.M.

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

MASTERWORKS #1

Sunday, November 9, 3:00 P.M.

Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

MUSIC, MAESTROS & MASTERS

Thursday, November 13, 7:30 P.M.

FAU Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Jupiter

Clef Notes: When Fables Go to the Symphony

Tuesday, November 18, 2:00 P.M.

Mandel Public Library, 411 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach

NINTH ANNUAL HOLLY JOLLY SYMPHONY FÊTE

Monday, December 8, 10:30 A.M.

Cohen Pavilion, Kravis Center

LUNCH AND LEARN #2:

Claudio Jaffé, Principal Cello

Thursday, December 11, 12:00–1:30 P.M.

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

MASTERWORKS #2

Tuesday, December 16, 7:30 P.M.

Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

CANDLELIGHT CHAMBER

CONCERT 1: A Winter Solstice

Curator/Host: Harris Han, assistant conductor

Exclusive to The Boca Raton Members and Hotel Guests Only

Sunday, December 21, 7:00 P.M.

The Boca Raton, 501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton

PALM BEACH SYMPHONY GALA KICK-OFF RECEPTION (Invitation Only)

Wednesday, January 7, 6:00 P.M.

Findlay Galleries, Palm Beach

LUNCH AND LEARN #3: Harris Han, Assistant Conductor

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

Thursday, January 8, 12:00–1:30 P.M.

CANDLELIGHT CHAMBER

CONCERT 2: Musical Fireworks

Curator/Host: Harris Han, assistant conductor

Exclusive to The Boca Raton Members and Hotel Guests Only Friday, January 9, 7:00 P.M.

The Boca Raton, 501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton

MASTERWORKS #3

Tuesday, January 13, 7:30 P.M.

Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

Clef Notes: Shakespeare in Music

Tuesday, January 20, 2:00 P.M.

Mandel Public Library, 411 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

PRELUDE SOCIETY EVENT: CURATED CLASSICS

(Invitation Only)

Monday, January 26, 6:00 P.M.

The Ben, West Palm Beach

Young Friends Palm Beach Show Kick Off Party (Invitation Only)

Thursday, February 5, 6:00 P.M.

Private residence, West Palm Beach

Orchestra Outreach: Lady In Red/Life Gala

Saturday, February 7, 6:00 P.M.

The Breakers Palm Beach

Orchestra Outreach: An Evening Of Divertimentos And Dressage For Brooke USA

Thursday, February 12, 7:00 P.M.

Jim Brandon Equestrian Center

PALM BEACH SYMPHONY 24TH ANNUAL GALA – A STANDING OVATION

Monday, February 16, 7:00 P.M.

The Breakers Palm Beach

Clef Notes: Brahms and Stravinsky

Tuesday, February 17, 2:00 P.M.

Mandel Public Library, 411 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach

LUNCH AND LEARN#4: Gerard Schwarz, Music Director

Thursday, February 26, 2026, 12:00–1:30 P.M.

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

CANDLELIGHT CHAMBER

CONCERT 3: Strumming Strings

Curator/Host: Harris Han, assistant conductor Exclusive to The Boca Raton Members and Hotel Guests Only Friday February 27, 2026, 7:00 P.M.

The Boca Raton, 501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton

MASTERWORKS #4

Monday, March 2, 7:30 P.M.

Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

PLANNED GIVING WINE TASTING RECEPTION

Tuesday, March 10, 6:30 P.M.

Bear Lakes Country Club, West Palm Beach

Clef Notes: Don Quixote Becomes a Cello

Tuesday, March 17, 2:00 P.M.

Mandel Public Library, 411 Clematis Street, West Palm Beach

CANDLELIGHT CHAMBER CONCERT 4: Two To Tango

Curator/Host: Harris Han, assistant conductor

Exclusive to The Boca Raton Members and Hotel Guests Only

Monday, March 23, 2026, 7:00 P.M.

The Boca Raton, 501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton

SWINGS FOR STRINGS GOLF INVITATIONAL

Friday, March 27, 11:00 A.M.

Wellington National Golf Club, Wellington

5TH ANNUAL IMPRESARIO SOCIETY DINNER (Impresario Society Members Only)

Thursday, April 9, 6:00 P.M.

Private Residence, Palm Beach

SUNSET DINNER CRUISE ON “CATALINA” (Invitation Only)

Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 P.M. Riviera Beach City Marina

LUNCH AND LEARN #5: Harris Han, Assistant Conductor

Thursday, April 16, 12:00–1:30 P.M.

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

MASTERWORKS #5

Sunday, April 19, 3:00 P.M. Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

PRE-HOLLY JOLLY GIFT GATHERING PARTY

Friday, April 24, 5:30 P.M.

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

LUNCH AND LEARN #6: Gerard Schwarz, Music Director

Thursday, May 14, 12:00–1:30 P.M.

Home of Palm Beach Symphony Center for Philanthropy, 700 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

MASTERWORKS #6

Sunday, May 17, 3:00 P.M. Dreyfoos Hall, Kravis Center

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

DIRECTORS

Cathleen Black

John D. Herrick Treasurer

Todd Dahlstrom

Amy Collins

Nannette Cassidy

James R. Borynack Chair

Laurie Bay

Carol Baxter

Marietta Muiña McNulty

Martha Rodriguez M.D.

Karen Rogers

Adam Wolek

Percy Kavasmaneck, Ph.D.

Carol S. Hays

Richard Brekus Vice Chair

Mary Demory

Don Thompson Secretary

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CHAIR’S WELCOME

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Palm Beach Symphony’s 2025–2026 Masterworks Season. As we embark on our 52nd year, we are thrilled to continue bringing the joy, inspiration, and connection of live orchestral music to our community. Under the extraordinary direction of Maestro Gerard Schwarz, this season promises to be one of our most exciting yet.

We are proud to present an unforgettable lineup that includes legendary artists, thrilling debuts, and timeless masterpieces. From Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Respighi’s Pines of Rome to Strauss’ sweeping Alpine Symphony and Holst’s celestial The Planets, each concert offers a powerful journey through the world’s greatest music. We are honored to welcome back distinguished pianists Emanuel Ax and Misha Dichter, and to feature Palm Beach Symphony debuts by celebrated artists Shelly Berg, Alisa Weilerstein, Vadim Repin, and Simon Trpčeski.

Beyond the stage, our commitment to education and community engagement remains at the heart of our mission. Through initiatives like the Dale A. McNulty Children’s Concert Series and our Todd Barron Instrument Donation Program, we continue to inspire the next generation of musicians and ensure access to the arts for students throughout Palm Beach County.

It is through the dedication and generosity of our patrons, donors, and sponsors that we are able to achieve this level of artistic and community impact. On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for standing with us in our mission to engage, educate, and entertain. Please enjoy this extraordinary season of music.

James R. Borynack Chair

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MESSAGE FROM GERARD SCHWARZ

Welcome to the New Season of the Palm Beach Symphony! Each season, we take great care in crafting programs that resonate with our remarkable musical community and highlight the enduring importance of culture in our society. We are proud to contribute to the vibrant arts scene in Palm Beach, bringing world-class music to audiences in our community.

This season, our orchestra will perform timeless symphonic masterpieces, including works by Dvořák, de Falla, Brahms, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Mozart, Holst, Strauss, Respighi, and Rachmaninoff. These masterpieces have inspired generations, and we are honored to bring them to life with our orchestra’s distinctive sound and artistry.

We are also thrilled to welcome extraordinary soloists to our stage, both familiar faces and exciting new talents, whose artistry brings depth, passion, and brilliance to every performance. Among them are Shelton Berg, Misha Dichter, Alisa Weilerstein, Vadim Repin, Simon Trpčeski, and Emanuel Ax. Their performances enrich our shared love of music and offer unforgettable moments for our audiences.

As a 21st-century American orchestra, we are deeply committed to celebrating contemporary music by American composers. In honor of our country’s 250th anniversary, we will present works by living composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Daniel Asia, and Paul Moravec, in addition to 20thcentury gems by George Gershwin and Alan Hovhaness.

I am excited to share this magnificent music with you this season. Your presence, enthusiasm, and support make every performance possible, and together we celebrate the transformative power of music and create unforgettable musical memories along the way.

Gerard Schwarz Music Director

MUSIC DIRECTOR GERARD SCHWARZ

Gerard Schwarz is recognized internationally for his moving performances, innovative programming, and a lifelong dedication to music education. He is the Music Director of the All-Star Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, Palm Beach Symphony, and The Frost Symphony Orchestra. He is also Conductor Laureate of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Mostly Mozart Festival. Schwarz is the Distinguished Professor of Music; Conducting and

Orchestral Studies at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

The 2025-26 season is Schwarz’s seventh as Music Director of the Palm Beach Symphony, during which he will perform Brahms, Gershwin, Holst, Hovhaness, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Shostakovich, and Strauss, among others. The season includes the world premiere of Pulitzer Prizewinning composer Paul Moravec’s Lullaby, commissioned for the Palm Beach Symphony by Bonnie McElveen-Hunter.

His appearances as guest conductor in the 2025-26 season include the Vancouver USA Arts and Music Festival, in performances that will feature world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming, and leading guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin playing Karen LeFrak’s new Miami Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra. Schwarz will also appear with the Syracuse Orchestra.

Schwarz’s discography of over 350 albums showcases his collaborations with the world’s greatest orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Tokyo Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, and Seattle Symphony Orchestra. In the 2023-24 season Schwarz recorded Arthur Foote’s long-forgotten cello concerto with his son, Julian Schwarz, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. It will be released on Delos Records.

Schwarz has commissioned and performed more than 300 world premieres. As Music Director of the Eastern Music Festival he initiated the Bonnie McElveen-Hunter Commissioning Project in 2013, celebrating American composers. The project has commissioned works by John Corigliano, Richard Danielpour, André Previn, HyeKyung Lee, and Lowell Liebermann.

In more than five decades as a respected classical musician and conductor, Schwarz has received eight Emmy Awards, 14 GRAMMY® nominations, eight ASCAP Awards, and numerous Stereo Review and Ovation Awards. He holds the Ditson Conductor’s Award from Columbia University and was the first American named Conductor of the Year by Musical America. He has received numerous honorary doctorates, including from The Juilliard School, his alma mater. In 2002, ASCAP honored Schwarz with its Concert Music Award; in 2003, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences gave Schwarz its first “IMPACT” lifetime achievement award. Schwarz’s memoir, Behind the Baton: An American Icon Talks Music, was published by Hal Leonard in 2017. MUSIC DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS

Alberto Bade has established an outstanding reputation nationally and internationally in recent years. His charismatic stage presence and powerful interpretations of a wide repertoire have elevated him to a place of privilege within the musical community. Recognized for his dynamic style, drive, and musical passion, Bade continues to attract international attention as one of the most outstanding young conductors working in the United States today.

Bade currently works as Professor and Orchestral Director at Miami Dade College (MDC) where he serves as director of the MDC Symphony Orchestra. A dedicated advocate of music education, Bade is regularly a guest conductor for local and international youth orchestras, as well as the founder of the MDC Honors Festival. As an international performer, Bade has been a frequent guest conductor in orchestras in Madrid, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Bucharest, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Born in West New York, New Jersey, Bade developed his interest in music at a very young age. Although primarily captured by the orchestral language; jazz and other styles were equally prevalent in his musical development. Bade obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Music and Jazz at the University of Miami as well as a Master of Music Degree from the same institution before moving to New York to begin graduate studies at the Juilliard School. Bade has had the opportunity to study with some of the most acclaimed conducting educators in the world, such as Vincent La Selva, Kenneth Keisler and the legendary Jorma Panula.

Without being limited to one style or tradition, Bade provides interpretative vision that takes root beyond the confines of the traditional classical music spectrum. His diverse approach has led him to work with artists from both the classical and jazz world including Pinchas Zukerman, Ed Calle, Jose Negroni and Federico Britos.

Bade has been awarded many prizes, including the Educational Outreach Award and the Miami Dade County Mayor’s Maestro Award for his performances and educational contributions to the city of Miami. Bade has also won nine Regional Emmy Awards for his televised orchestral performances with the Miami Dade College Symphony Orchestra.

ASSISTANT CONDUCTORS

Nine time Emmy Award winning Alberto Bade continues to enthuse and inspire audiences everywhere as he moves forward passionately with his calling: to share the profound and transformative power of music with the world.

Harris Han currently serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Palm Beach Symphony and Frost Symphony Orchestra. He is the winner of the 2025 Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Conducting Fellowship and, on the recommendation of the orchestra and Music Director Jaap van Zweden, led the orchestra in a performance of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra in Lotte Concert Hall. In past seasons, he has served as Assistant Conductor of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (NY), Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra (MI), Ithaca College Opera Studio (NY), and as a cover conducting of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (MI). He was invited to the Bach and Beyond Baroque Music Festival in Fredonia, NY for many summers as harpsichord soloist and violinist. Han has received additional training via the 2024 Riccardo Muti Opera Academy in Japan, the 2024 George Enescu Conducting Masterclass in Romania, and the Pierre Monteux Festival and School in Hancock, Maine where he served as Assistant Conductor and Violinist in 2023 and 2024. He was also a Conducting Scholar at Greensboro, North Carolina’s Eastern Music Festival in 2022.

In May 2025, Han graduated from the Frost School of Music, University of Miami with a Master of Music in Orchestra Conducting. A trained pianist and violinist, he has served as a collaborative pianist at the University of Miami, Florida International University, the University of Michigan, Cornell University, and Ithaca College. He has played violin and piano with the Symphony of the Americas, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano and Violin Performance the from Ithaca College School of Music where he studied piano with Charis Dimaras and violin with Calvin Wiersma. At Ithaca, Han won the 2022 Mary Hayes North Competition for senior piano majors and the 2020 Concerto Competition. Conducting teachers include Jaap van Zweden, Gerard Schwarz, Cristian Macelaru, Kenneth Kiesler, Hugh Wolff, and Grant Cooper. Han is the recipient of the 2025 Career Assistance Award from The Solti Foundation U.S.

LADIES GUILD

The Palm Beach Symphony Ladies Guild was formed in 2009 to assist the Board of Directors in developing ideas related to Symphony programs and membership. As ambassadors of the Symphony, Ladies Guild members are “friend-raisers” who share their enthusiasm for the organization and work together to invite and encourage membership.

Mrs. James N. Bay

Carol Baxter

Carol Bruce

Sophia Burnichon

Margaret C. Donnelley

Sandra Goldner+*

Amy Collins

Nannette Cassidy~ Dr. Alexandra Carpenter Cook

Arlette Gordon+ Denis Hanrahan

Sheryne Brekus~

Julie Dahlstrom

Suzanne Mott Dansby

Carol S. Hays

Mary Demory

+Founding Member

*Honorary Member

~Legacy Member

Dr. Aban Kavasmaneck

Sally Ohrstrom+

Sieglinde Wikstrom+

Ruby Rinker*

Erika Wolek

Judy Woods

Karen Rogers Mary Lynn Rogers

Marietta Muiña McNulty+

Jody Schwarz

Dr. Ann L. Johnson*

Dawn Galvin Meiners*

Sherri Stephenson Mary Thompson+

Young Friends is an active group of young professionals who have an appreciation for classical music and are committed to supporting Palm Beach Symphony’s impactful education and outreach programs.

As a Young Friends member, you are supporting our programs that provide instruments for needy students, support coaching sessions by professional Symphony musicians for the next generation, and offer free concerts for children.

YOUNG FRIENDS MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

All Members Receive

• Invitation to social events

• Access to special single ticket rate

• Advanced single ticket ordering

• Subscription to text-alert reminders

• Subscription to select email communications

• Access to purchase a discounted gala ticket

All Executive Receive

• All member benefits

• Complimentary champagne at concerts

• A Masterworks Series Subscription

• Access to special subscription rate

• Invitation to Executive VIP events

Call (561) 655-2657 or email yfpbs@palmbeachsymphony.org palmbeachsymphony.org/youngfriends

700 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 100, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

HISTORY & MISSION

Palm Beach Symphony is South Florida’s premier orchestra known for its diverse repertoire and commitment to the community. Founded in 1974, this 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization adheres to a mission of engaging, educating, and entertaining the greater community of the Palm Beaches through live performances of inspiring orchestral music. The orchestra, led by its Music Director and internationally recognized conductor Gerard Schwarz, is celebrated for delivering spirited performances by first-rate musicians and distinguished guest artists. Recognized by The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County with a 2020 Muse Award for Outstanding Community Engagement, Palm Beach Symphony continues to expand its education and community outreach programs with children’s concerts, student coaching sessions, masterclasses, instrument donations and free public concerts that have reached more than 75,000 students in recent years.

History: In our earliest days, the orchestra performed only a few concerts a year with a part-time conductor and a volunteer staff. It was not until Mrs. Ethel S. Stone became the Symphony’s board chair, a position she held for 23 years, that the Palm Beach Symphony orchestra began establishing itself as a cultural force in the community. A visionary leader, Mrs. Stone inherited her love of music from her family and generously shared it with the community she loved. During her tenure, a number of well-known

musicians served in leadership roles including Karl Karapetian, John Iuele, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Stewart Kershaw, David Gray, Ulf Bjorlin, and John Covelli. Upon Mrs. Stone’s death on August 6, 1996, John and Joan Tighe stepped in to continue her legacy. They established a stable board of directors, a dedicated administrative staff, and a small endowment fund to ensure the Symphony’s continued growth. Musicians who led the orchestra during the Tighes’ tenure were Alan Kogosowski, Vladimir Ponkin, Sergiu Schwartz, Ray Robinson, and Donald Oglesby.

Mission: The mission of Palm Beach Symphony is to engage, educate, and entertain the greater community of the Palm Beaches through live performances of inspiring orchestral music.

Today: From our humble beginnings, Palm Beach Symphony has grown to become a cultural pillar in the Palm Beach community. Now a key cultural force in the area, we attract members who enjoy pairing quality concerts with fine dining experiences and social events, and who value and support the symphony’s music education and community outreach programs.

In 2019, as the Symphony entered its 45th season, we moved our operations across the bridge from Palm Beach (where we’d operated since 1974) to West Palm Beach, allowing us space to realize our full potential by expanding our mission and reaching even more corners of the community with orchestral music. By integrating with the rich fabric of the Downtown West Palm Beach business district, we’re able to align with countless economic development and tourism assets to enrich the lives of families, businesses, residents, students, and tourists.

Through important collaborations with our valued community partners – the Palm Beach School District, the Related Group, the Cultural Council, the Downtown Development Authority, and the West Palm Beach Arts and Entertainment District, to name just a few – we’re continuing to grow our mission and expand our reach in Palm Beach County and beyond, bringing classical music to people of all ages, backgrounds, and life experiences.

In its 50th season, the Symphony continues its strong momentum of growth under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer David McClymont. Music Director Gerard Schwarz is leading spirited performances of Masterworks concerts with an orchestra that reaches 90 players, the mark of a major symphony orchestra. Children’s concerts, student coaching sessions, masterclasses, instrument donations, and free public concerts have reached more than 81,000 students in recent years. In addition to conducting the Masterworks concerts, Maestro Schwarz is also conducting the Children’s Concert Series, and the orchestra is recording it for television through a partnership with South Florida PBS.

Palm Beach Symphony

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2026, 11:00 AM

Wellington National Golf Club

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER’S LETTER

Dear Friends,

As we launch Palm Beach Symphony’s 2025–2026 Masterworks Series, I am thrilled to share a season that celebrates the power, beauty, and connection of live orchestral music. This year offers an extraordinary journey through iconic masterworks, exciting solo debuts, and a world premiere.

We open our 52nd season with Grammynominated pianist Shelly Berg performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue alongside An American in Paris. Later in the season, we proudly present the world premiere of Lullaby by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Moravec, commissioned exclusively for Palm Beach Symphony by Ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter. Audiences will also experience the brilliance of Beethoven and Mozart, the sweeping drama of Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, the vibrant imagery of Respighi’s Pines of Rome, and the celestial wonder of Holst’s The Planets.

Equally meaningful is our work beyond the stage. Through our education and outreach programs, Palm Beach Symphony has reached more than 90,000 students and lifelong learners across Palm Beach County, offering free school performances, classroom residencies, and hundreds of instrument donations that open doors to music for all. This season, we are especially proud to be approaching our 1,000th donated instrument, a remarkable milestone that will bring the joy of music to even more students.

This season reflects our mission to engage, educate, and inspire. We are deeply grateful for the supporters who make it all possible. On behalf of our musicians, board, and staff, thank you for joining us. We look forward to sharing a season of unforgettable performances with you.

With gratitude,

David McClymont Chief Executive Officer

PLANNED GIVING LEAVE A MUSICAL LEGACY

Palm Beach Symphony is deeply grateful to those who remember us through bequests or planned gifts. There are many ways to make a planned gift to the Symphony. Depending on your age, your income and assets and your vision of giving, you may wish to consider:

• Beneficiary Designations under Retirement Plan Assets [401(k), 403(b), IRA]

• Bequests via Will or Living Trust

• Cash

• Charitable Lead Trusts

• Charitable Remainder Trusts

• Gift Annuities

• Life Insurance

• Pledges

Your planned gift will help ensure the Symphony’s bright future by:

• Keeping classical music thriving by supporting our world-class musicians and critically acclaimed conductor.

• Allowing thousands of local students to be instructed and inspired by our concerts and education programs.

The Dora Bak Society

• Building a cultural community by helping us make classical music accessible to all through free outreach events.

The Dora Bak Society recognizes the dedication and generosity of music patrons who choose to include Palm Beach Symphony in their bequests or other long-range charitable giving plans. The Society offers a wonderful way to help sustain the Symphony’s mission for generations to come. Dora Bak Society members are acknowledged in a variety of ways, including presence on all printed donor lists and other naming opportunities that will carry the donor’s name into perpetuity.

Contact Us

When you’re ready to learn more about bequest opportunities that benefit Palm Beach Symphony, please contact David McClymont at 561-655-2657.

ORCHESTRA & STAFF

VIOLIN I

Evija Ozolins, concertmaster

Marina Lenau, associate concertmaster

Glen Basham, Emin Huseynov

Charlotte Loukola

Michelle Skinner

Samvel Arakelyan

Alexandra Gorski

Svetlana Salminen

Orlando Forte

Dina Bikzhanova

Michael Wu

Alfredo Oliva

Kyle Szabo

VIOLIN II

Valentin Mansurov, principal

Claudia Cagnassone, assistant principal

Erica Venable

Tinca Belinschi

Ruby Berland

Evgeniya Antonyan

Adriana Fernandez

Victoria Bramble

Yillian Conception

Benita Dzhurkova

Esther Platt

Manuela Jimenez

VIOLA

Chauncey Patterson, principal

Felicia Besan, assistant principal

Adrienne Williams

Jana Kaminsky

Naomi Graf

Gabrielle Malaniak

Juliana Bramble

Christian Curran

Taylor Shea

Molly Turner

CELLO

Claudio Jaffé, principal

Brent Charran, assistant principal

Antonio Innaimo

Aziz Sapaev

Tadeo Hermida

German Marcano

Niloufar Nabikhani

Axel Vallejo

BASS

Juan Carlos Peña, principal

Brian Myhr

Jeff Adkins

Amy Nickler

Will Penn

Paola Garcia

Santiago Olaguibel

FLUTE

Nadine Asin, principal

Joe Monticello

Dmytro Gnativ

FLUTE/PICCOLO

Ay Kawasaki

OBOE

Antonio Urrutia, principal

Elias Medina

Matthew Maroon

OBOE/ENGLISH HORN

Karen Trujillo

CLARINET

Ashley Leigh, principal

Julian Santacoloma

BASS CLARINET

Molly Flax

BASSOON

Gabriel Beavers, principal

Carlos Felipe Viña

CONTRABASSOON

Christina Bonatakis

FRENCH HORN

Amber Dean, principal

Mark Trotter

Bruce Heim

Michelle Haim

Joseph Lovinsky

Caitlin Beth McKinney

Stan Spinola

Taryn Lee

TRUMPET

Robert Garrison, guest principal

Gabriel Gutierrez

Marc Reese

Morgan Low

Nelson Martinez

Juan Diaz TROMBONE

Domingo Pagliuca, principal

Adrian Corredor

Salvador Saez

BASS TROMBONE

Andre Prouty

TUBA

Benjamin Liberti, principal

TIMPANI

Lucas Sanchez, principal

PERCUSSION

Scott Crawford, principal

Jordan Holley

Nathan Coffman

Colin Williams

Karli Viña

Matt Nichols

HARP

Laura Sherman, principal

Marti Ann Moreland

PIANO

Valeria Polunina, principal*

SAXOPHONE

Frank Capoferri

Kyle Merchant

Dylan Tucker

Alfredo Oliva, Orchestra Contractor

Miami Symphonic Entertainment, Inc.

Principal Chairs

Sponsored by:

Evija Ozolins, Concertmaster

Sponsored by The Honorable

Ronald A. Rosenfeld

Marina Lenau, Assistant Concertmaster

Sponsored by Tish Messinger

Claudio Jaffe, Principal Cello

Sponsored by Leslie Rogers Blum

Antonio Urrutia Mendoza, Principal Oboe

Sponsored by Carol and Thomas Bruce

Amber Dean, Principal French Horn

Sponsored by Karen Hunt Rogers

Valeria Polunina, Principal Piano

Sponsored by Hank Dow and Kelly Winter

Alfredo Oliva, Orchestra Contractor

Sponsored by Gerry Gibian and Marjorie Yashar

STAFF

David McClymont  Chief Executive Officer

Christopher Burnett Director of Finance

Gabrielle Gibbs Marketing Assistant

Renée LaBonte Community Advancement Coordinator

Sage Lehman Patron Relations Concierge

May Bell Lin Honorary Membership Director

Samantha Metzelar Stage Manager

Conor Price Director of Marketing and Communications

Felix Rivera Patron Advancement Coordinator

Hulya Selcuk Director of Special Events

Bryce Seliger Education & Programming Associate

Kewan Smith Director of Development

Olga M. Vazquez  Director of Artistic Operations

PRINCIPAL MUSICIANS

Alfredo Oliva is the Orchestra Contractor for Palm Beach Symphony. A New York City native, he grew up in Hialeah, and his first performances at age 17 included working with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Bing Crosby, Ray Charles, Barry White, Smoky Robinson and Burt Bacharach. The concertmaster of many Broadway shows, he has played in nearly every major classical ensemble in South Florida. Oliva has collaborated with hundreds of award-winning recording artists, including Gloria Estefan (Grammy® nominated album The Standards), Natalie Cole (Grammy nominated album, Natalie Cole En Español), Barry Gibb (In the Now), Michael Jackson (“Heaven Can Wait” and “Whatever Happens” from Invincible), Placido Domingo, Barbra Streisand, The Bee Gees, Julio Iglesias, Celia Cruz (“Yo Viviré” from Siempre Viviré), Alejandro Sanz (El Alma Al Aire, MTV America Latina), José Feliciano (Señor Bolero), Vic Damone, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Jon Secada, Enrique Iglesias, Busta Rhymes with Stevie Wonder (“Been Through the Storm” from The Big Bang), Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin (Ricky Martin MTV Unplugged). Since 2007, Oliva’s orchestras have been performing at the Adrienne Arsht Center and other South Florida concert venues as members of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra as well as the Palm Beach Symphony and recently performed the incredible movie experience Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets™ in Concert!

Evija Ozolins is the Concertmaster for Palm Beach Symphony and the Florida Grand Opera. She is also a member of the All-Star Orchestra and the acclaimed Bergonzi String Quartet. Born in Riga, Latvia, she is a thirdgeneration musician in a family of professional musicians and began playing the piano at the age of four and violin one year later. After participating in numerous competitions, solo recitals and chamber music performances throughout Latvia and Europe in her teens, she was accepted at the Mannes College of Music in New York City where she studied with renowned violinists Aaron Rosand and David Nadien and played under conductors

Kurt Masur, James Levine, Leonard Slatkin, and Yehudi Menuhin. She has given solo recitals in many U.S. cities, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in Manhattan, as well as in Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe. Ozolins has premiered multiple contemporary chamber music and solo violin works such as Imants Mezaraups Short Suite for violin solo and electronic sound. She has served as Concertmaster for Camerata NY, Jupiter Symphony and the Carnegie Hall concert series of the New England Symphonic Ensemble. She has also served as Principal 2nd Violin with the Binghamton Philharmonic and, for several years, was a member of the Jupiter Symphony under conductor Jens Nygaard. Having recorded as a soloist with Maureen McGovern, Lee Leesack, and Brian Lane Green, her name also appears on movie soundtracks and commercial recordings, including releases with Barry Gibb, Natalie Cole and Gloria Estefan. She performs in numerous Broadway shows, including Motown, Little Mermaid, Camelot, Lion King, My Fair Lady, Color Purple and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Recently, she performed Mendelssohn’s E Minor Violin Concerto and the Beethoven Two Romances for violin and orchestra in New York City. Ozolins plays on a 1782 Antonio Gragnani violin.

Valentin Mansurov is Principal Second Violin for Palm Beach Symphony. An award-winning musician who has won multiple competitions in the former U.S.S.R, Canada, and the United States, Mansurov has performed in solo recitals and chamber music concerts throughout Europe, North America and South America. In addition to his Palm Beach Symphony performances, both orchestral and chamber, he performs locally as a member of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra. In 2015, Mansurov became a member of the critically acclaimed Delray String Quartet, performing in concerts nationwide. He began studying violin at the age of seven at Uspenskiy’s School for Musically Gifted Children in Uzbekistan and has pursued further college degrees in Turkey, France, Canada and the United States.

Chauncey Patterson is Principal Viola for Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera, violist for Bergonzi String Quartet at University of Miami, Assistant Principal Violist of The Eastern Music Festival summer program and Associate Professor of Chamber Music at Lynn Conservatory of Music. He has been principal violist of the Denver and Buffalo Symphonies, interim violist of the Fine Arts Quartet and, for 15 years, violist of the renowned and extensively recorded Miami String Quartet. Patterson’s faculty affiliations include: The Cleveland Institute of Music, Blossom School of Music, Kent State University, Hartt School of Music, Encore School for Strings, Eastern Music Festival, University of Charleston (WV), University of Denver, New World School of the Arts, FIU and The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. He attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Curtis Institute.

Claudio Jaffé launched his solo performance career at the age of 11 with an orchestral debut in his native Brazil. His recitals and guest solo appearances with multiple orchestras have brought him to play in prestigious artistic centers around the world including those in New York City, London, Tokyo, Ottawa, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires. The New York Times describes Jaffé as “an elegant and accomplished artist” of “taste, technique, musicianship, and a contagious youthful enthusiasm.” He is principal cellist of the Florida Grand Opera and Palm Beach Symphony, and Music Director of the Florida Youth Orchestra.

A prizewinner in numerous national and international competitions, he received four degrees from Yale University including the Doctor of Musical Arts. He served as Dean of the Lynn University Conservatory of Music and created their Preparatory Division, began the Strings Program at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, has conducted the Florida Youth Orchestra for over 25 years, performed as member of the Delray String Quartet for over 10 seasons, and taught at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Jaffé has conducted, performed, and taught at the Santa Catarina Music Festival (FEMUSC) and performs regularly at the Sunflower and Buzzards Bay Music Festivals.

Juan Carlos Peña is Principal Double Bass for both Palm Beach Symphony and the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra and performs regularly with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in Honduras, he studied at the Victoriano Lopez School of Music. In Honduras, he was Artistic/Technical Director for the Victoriano López School of Music and Music Director of the San Pedro Sula. In Colombia, he was director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Antonio Valencia Conservatory, and in Spain, he was Music Director of the Madrigalia Chamber Choir. Other credits include: Principal Double Bass and soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (Honduras) and Orquesta Sinfónica del Valle (Colombia), co-principal double bass with Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia (Spain), conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Escuela Nacional de Música (Honduras), and bass instructor and soloist at Soli Deo Gloria Music Camp (Dominican Republic).

Nadine Asin is Principal Flute for Palm Beach Symphony and maintains a busy career since leaving her full-time position with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra after a 20year tenure. She performs as principal flutist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra and with the new All-Star Orchestra (a recent PBS series). Asin has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Great Performers Series of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Da Camera Society of Houston, NPR’s Performance Today, Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Norton Museum and the Musimelange series. She commissioned, performed and recorded the world premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s flute concerto, Enchanted Orbits, and David Schiff’s After Hours for flute and piano, and recorded Aaron Avshalomov’s Flute Concerto on the Naxos label. She serves on the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music and as adjunct faculty at The Juilliard School.

Antonio Urrutia Mendoza, Oboe and English horn, is a Colombian-born, Miamibased musician. As an avid free-lancer, Urrutia holds the Principal Oboe Chair with the Palm Beach Symphony and South Florida Symphony Orchestra. He also performs frequently with the Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, Opera Naples, the Sarasota Orchestra, Symphony of the Americas, Serpahic Fire, the New World Symphony, and has been featured as a soloist with Orchestra Miami. Urrutia received his Master of Music in Orchestral Oboe at the McGill University Schulich School of Music, as well as his Graduate Diploma in Professional Performance, where he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant under the tutelage of former Montreal Symphony Principal Oboe, Theodore Baskin. During his time in Canada, he was a Fellow with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada and also performed with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Classique de Montreal, Ensemble Obiora, Pronto Musica Chamber Orchestra, and made frequent appearances at the Brott Music Festival in Ontario. Urrutia has also been featured internationally, as he was Acting Associate Principal Oboe of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand and holds the Solo Oboe Chair at the St. Georges International Music Festival in Guadeloupe, France. During the summers, Urrutia is a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where he continues his studies with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Principal Oboe Emeritus, Elaine Douvas and Nashville Symphony Orchestra Principal Oboe Titus Underwood.

Ashley R Leigh joins the Palm Beach Symphony as Principal Clarinet this year. During her tenure, she served as Assistant Principal, Second, and Eb Clarinet with the Naples Philharmonic for seventeen years. Additionally, Leigh has performed with the Florida Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, the Round Top Festival Institute, Musica Riva Festival (Italy), and the Tanglewood Festival.

Gabriel Beavers is Principal Bassoon for Palm Beach Symphony and the Associate Professor of Bassoon at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Prior to joining the faculty at Frost, he served on the faculty of the Louisiana State University School of Music. He is also a member of the Nu-Deco ensemble and serves as 2nd bassoonist in the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra in Durango, CO. Formerly a fellow with the New World Symphony, he has also served as Principal Bassoon with the Virginia Symphony, Acting Principal Bassoon with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony and as Acting Second Bassoon with the Milwaukee Symphony for one season. Beavers has also previously held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Music. In addition to his orchestral activities, he has an active schedule of solo and chamber performances. He has appeared as a soloist with the Virginia Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, Greater Miami Symphonic Band and Louisiana Sinfonietta and has given recitals throughout the United States and at international wind and double reed festivals in England, Brazil and Japan. Beavers also has recorded two well-reviewed solo albums, “A Quirky Dream” and “Gordon Jacob: Music for Bassoon” both of which are available on Mark Records.

Amber Dean is Principal Horn of Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera, and is Fourth Horn at Eastern Music Festival where she also serves on the faculty. Her previous positions include Fourth Horn of the Sarasota Orchestra, Second Horn of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco (Guadalajara, Mexico), and Third Horn of the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes (Culiacan, Mexico). She has also performed with The Florida Orchestra, Mozart Orchestra of New York, St. Pete Opera, Symphony of the Americas, Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Miami City Ballet, Orchestra Miami, South Florida Symphony, Lancaster Festival, and the Quad City Symphony, among others. Additionally, she is a frequent clinician at Florida youth orchestras and schools. Dean completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Western Illinois University and her Master of Music degree at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Her teachers include Dale Clevenger, Richard Todd, Alice Render Clevenger, and Randall Faust.

Robert Garrison Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he is a versatile trumpet player based in Sarasota, FL, performing across classical, baroque, and jazz genres. He is Acting Co-Principal Trumpet of the Sarasota Orchestra, an Extra Musician with the Metropolitan Opera, and will serve as Guest Principal Trumpet with the Palm Beach Symphony in 2025–2026. His past roles include Acting 2nd Trumpet with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Robert has appeared with leading ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, with whom he toured with in 2022. Career highlights include performances recognized among the New York Times’s “Best Classical Music Performances,” including Spoleto Festival USA’s Omar, the New York Philharmonic’s David Geffen Hall opening, and MusicAeterna’s U.S. tour, as well as soloing on the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Robert earned his B.M. from the University of North Texas and his M.M. from Juilliard. He is a Yamaha and Patrick Mouthpieces Performing Artist.

Domingo Pagliuca is Principal Trombone for Palm Beach Symphony and is a Latin Grammy Award-winning trombonist who was born in Venezuela and graduated with honors from the University of Miami with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music in Instrumental Performance. His versatility as an instrumentalist in different musical genres has led him to be one of the most in-demand musicians in Venezuela and Latin America for recording sessions and musical productions in the commercial field. He has given master classes in the continental US and all over the world, and also, he has performed as soloist in the US, Latin America and Europe. Currently, Pagliuca plays with the worldrenowned Boston Brass, is a Yamaha Artist, and serves as Principal Trombone of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra (FGO).

Benjamin Liberti is a freelance musician originally from Orlando, FL. He is currently a DMA Teaching Assistant for the tuba/euphonium studio at the University of Miami, pursuing a graduate degree in tuba performance. At Miami, Liberti studies with Dr. Aaron Tindall, Principal Tuba of the Naples Philharmonic. Prior to this, Ben studied at Rutgers University as a student of Alan Baer, Principal Tuba of the New York Philharmonic.

Liberti has performed with The Naples Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra, and other ensembles in South Florida and was most recently the tuba fellow and recipient of the Fenton Davison Endowed Scholarship at Music Academy of the West. In his spare time away from the studio, he enjoys watching the NBA and college basketball. Liberti performs on equipment by Meinl Weston - Germany.

Lucas Sanchez is Principal Timpani for Palm Beach Symphony and enjoys a multifaceted career as a timpanist, percussionist and teacher. Sanchez currently performs with Florida Grand Opera, Nu Deco Ensemble and the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he has appeared with the Houston Symphony and the Amarillo Symphony. Sanchez maintains a private percussion studio in Coral Gables, is an instructor for the Greater Miami Youth Symphony program and gives masterclasses at high schools and colleges in South Florida. After beginning his studies in Albuquerque with Douglas Cardwell, he received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Rice University under the tutelage of Richard Brown. Sanchez is currently writing his thesis for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami, studying with Matthew Strauss and Svetoslav Stoyanov. Sanchez is proudly endorsed by Pearl/Adams instruments and performs on Adams Philharmonic Dresden Classic Timpani.

Scott Crawford is Principal Percussion for Palm Beach Symphony. Scott is a freelance percussionist based in Southwest Florida. He has been performing with the Palm Beach Symphony since 2011. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland School of Music, A Masters from Chicago College of Performing Arts and a Performers Certificate from Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL. Crawford currently performs as a Member of The Huntsville Symphony (Huntsville, AL), Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera, and as an extra percussionist with the Naples Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra and Southwest Florida Symphony. When not performing on stage, he can be found in the pits of The Naples Players and TheatreZone. When not performing, Crawford owns and operates Florida’s premier drum and percussion rental business, Florida Percussion Service, providing instruments to ensembles throughout Florida and the neighboring states.

Laura Sherman is Principal Harp for Palm Beach Symphony. She is a Miami-based harpist with extensive experience in classical, popular and commercial music. Currently the Lecturer of Harp, Music Theory & Chamber Music at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, Sherman recently relocated from New York City, where she was a popular performer, teacher, writer and editor for thirtyfour years, including fifteen years as the original harpist with the Broadway production of Wicked. She can also be heard on the Hamilton Broadway Cast Recording, as well as on recordings of Barbra Streisand, Meredith Monk, and numerous film scores. Sherman founded Gotham Harp Publishing in 2012, specializes in playing J.S. Bach’s music on the pedal harp, and is a frequent writer and guest editor for a number of harp publications.

Valeria Polunina Pianist and vocal coach Valeria Polunina currently serves as Principal Piano of Palm Beach Symphony and performs as an accompanist in collaboration with prominent artists throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia. A participant in Italy’s Solti Peretti Répétiteurs, Polunina has held positions at the world’s leading organizations, including as Assistant Conductor at The Metropolitan Opera and the Bolshoi Theater Opera’s Young Artist Program, guest vocal coach at the Mariinsky Theater Opera’s Atkins Young Artist Program, Head of Music Staff for Luzerner Theater in Switzerland, Staff Pianist for Oper Köln in Germany, and founder of a prominent recital series in Estonia with Rene Kirspuu. She has appeared on major television and radio stations including Good Morning America, WQXR, and WXEL Radio, and has performed in recital at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris as well as at Carnegie Hall for the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition First Prize Winners’ Recital hosted by Valeriy Gergiev and the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration Concert. Polunina received her Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Juilliard School, and she is a graduate of The Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

At Wellington Bay, we believe it’s the time in your life to have the time of your life. You’ll spend your days among friends indulging in resort-like amenities, fine dining, social events and enriching recreational programs. To envision yourself here, schedule a visit at 561.677.9830 or learn more at WellingtonBayFL.com 10430 Stable Lane, Wellington, FL 33414

PAUL & SANDRA GOLDNER CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Each season, our music education initiatives are expanded upon to reach more students in Palm Beach County, and in recent years, our efforts have impacted more than 90,000 students. These programs continuously evolve to deepen and extend student learning opportunities with an expansive array of activities that enhance learning and reinforce academic and arts concepts.

Coaching Sessions and Residencies

Student musicians learn technique, tone, posture, proper position, and much more in small group settings with professional Palm Beach Symphony instrument instructors.

Todd Barron Instrument Donation Fund

The Todd Barron Instrument Donation Fund plays a vital role in supporting our mission by providing the resources needed to repair instruments received through our donation program, ensuring they are in

excellent condition for deserving students. Additionally, this fund allows us to purchase and donate brand-new instruments to schools and individual students and helps us sustain the Lisa Bruna B-Major Award competition that provides new, professional model instruments to talented high school students present with a financial need, and are in good academic standing, and will be music majors in college, enabling them to pursue higher education studies at their dream schools and launch successful musical careers.

Lecture Demonstrations and In-School Concerts

Presented in a variety of small ensemble combinations, PBS Symphony musicians perform selected works, discuss the music, the composer, their instruments, and their backgrounds and professional careers. These in-school concerts are a highly sought-after program that provides students with the opportunity to ask questions and speak with musicians in an intimate and more personal setting. The program is offered directly to school sites, free of charge to Title I elementary, middle and high schools and select youth orchestras.

Instrumental Music Teacher of the Year

We pay tribute to one special band or orchestra K-12 music teacher in Palm Beach County as the Instrumental Music Teacher of the Year with an award that includes coaching sessions by Palm Beach Symphony musicians, a classroom visit by Music Director Gerard Schwarz, Symphony concert tickets for the winner’s classes, and a basket-full of personal indulgences.

Open Rehearsals

Select supporting Members of the community have the opportunity to watch a rehearsal during the year. Open Rehearsals are a behind-the-scenes look into how the final product is pieced together by our Maestro and orchestra musicians in tandem with our featured soloist.

Masterclasses

A masterclass is an individual coaching session by a master musician in front of an audience, a class, or in public. Student musicians will perform a prepared piece for Palm Beach Symphony featured guest artist for expert feedback on areas for improvement, including musical technique, style, interpretative qualities, presentation, and overall musicality.

DALE A. MCNULTY CHILDREN’S CONCERT SERIES

Four young actors from the Goldner Conservatory of Music at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre brilliantly made each instrument of the orchestra come alive onstage as they dramatize the journey through Benjamin Britten’s family favorite, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, for a thrilling, interactive experience! The magic continued with classical music favorites “as heard on TV” in an original production that blended storytelling, music, and audience participation to spark a lifelong love of the arts.

FIELD TRIP SHOWS:

Tuesday, September 30, 2025, 10:30 am

Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center at Palm Beach State College

Friday, October 3, 2025, 10:30 am

Duncan Theater at Palm Beach State College

Monday, October 20, 2025, 10:30 am

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Dreyfoos Hall

FAMILY CONCERT:

Sunday, October 5, 2025, 3:00 pm

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Dreyfoos Hall

$50,000+ BRITTEN’S VARIATIONS

Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Foundation to assist in funding the production for Public Television

Paul and Sandra Goldner Conservatory of Music to assist in funding the production

$25,000+ WILLIAMS’ THEMES

Ray Farris

To assist in presentations enabling underserved young people throughout Palm Beach County to enjoy live orchestral concerts

$10,000+ WITTY WOODWINDS

Eric Friedheim Foundation to assist with production costs for all performances

McNulty Charitable Foundation to assist with production costs for all performances

Tish Messinger to assist in production costs for all performances

$5,000+ BOOMY BRASS

Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation

James H. and Marta T. Batmasian Family Foundation

Josephine DuPont Bayard

PHF Foundation Inc./Pamela Howard

$1,000+ PEPPY PERCUSSION

Carla Crowley PNC Foundation

Ronnie and William Potter

THE CARNIVAL OF more ANIMALS

Eudora’s Fable:

Learn more about our Emmy Nominated children’s concert performances by scanning the QR code:

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Palm Beach Symphony provides impactful outreach programs that allow us to reach beyond our concert venue to engage members of the community. Our community outreach events serve as the cornerstone of our efforts to reach Palm Beach County’s broad and diverse community which together with our educational initiatives enabled us to be recognized by The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County with a 2020 Muse Award for Outstanding Community Engagement.

Randolph A. Frank Prize

The mission of the Randolph A. Frank Prize for the Performing Arts is to recognize and reward individual performing artists and dedicated educators who enrich the quality of the performing arts in Palm Beach County, Florida. Categories include Performing Artist, Performing Arts Educator, and Emerging Artist.

Lisa Bruna B-Major Award

Through an annual audition process, Palm Beach Symphony awards one to three high school seniors with an advanced level instrument or major accessory such as a bow or headjoint. Students must reside in Palm Beach County, intend to major in music, and pursue their undergraduate studies at a university, college, or conservatory. This award was renamed in the second year of the program in honor of Lisa Bruna for her talents as a writer, her passion for helping others, and her significant contributions to the Palm Beach Symphony.

Chamber Chats

Palm Beach Symphony presents lively chamber music concerts enhanced by enlightening narration by local musicians, historians, and scholars. These informative and engaging chamber music programs provide both entertainment and learning experiences for audiences of all ages.

Nurturing Notes

Palm Beach Symphony connects with all corners of the community through music. Through Nurturing Notes, our Symphony musicians work with vulnerable and often times isolated populations including but not limited to seniors residing in assisted living and memory care communities, at-risk children, veterans and Holocaust survivors with PTSD, and those receiving inpatient care for medical or mental health needs.

Middle Bridge Trio

The Middle Bridge Trio comprised of Palm Beach Symphony musicians who perform a unique and intoxicating blend of music that merges the genres of American fiddle music with classical styles.

Musical Masterpieces

Through our Musical Masterpieces project, we work with diverse populations throughout the community, from children and adults, to turn decommissioned instruments into works of art. Palm Beach Symphony has partnered with aZul and local artist Craig McInnis from The Peach help individuals with disabilities create imaginative works of art. Numerous professional artists at Zero Empty Spaces Artist Studios turn these instruments into unique, one-of-a-kind beautiful works of art that can be purchased at their studio.

Cox Science Center and Aquarium Partnership

Palm Beach Symphony continues to partner with the Cox Science Center and Aquarium located in West Palm Beach. Symphony musicians will present short STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) lessons and work with children on fun and engaging activities centered around the intersection of science and music.

Learn more by scanning the QR code:

Sunday, November 9, 2025, 3:00 pm

Dreyfoos Hall

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Shelly Berg, piano

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

The Star-Spangled Banner

Mary Bryant McCourt, guest conductor*

1

Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)

An American in Paris

Rhapsody in Blue

Shelly Berg, piano

INTERMISSION

Prelude and Quadruple Fugue, Op. 128

Pines of Rome, P. 141

I. I pini di Villa Borghese

(The Pines of the Villa Borghese)

II. Pini presso una catacomba (Pines Near a Catacomb)

III. I pini del Gianicolo (The Pines of the Janiculum)

IV. I pini della Via Appia (The Pines of the Appian Way)

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Alan Hovhaness (1911 – 2000)

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)

*The opportunity to conduct Palm Beach Symphony was an auction item won at Palm Beach Symphony’s annual gala.

This evening’s Guest Artist is generously sponsored by Patricia Lambrecht/ The Patricia Lambrecht Family Foundation.

ARTIST PROFILE

SHELLY BERG

Shelly Berg is a Steinway piano artist and five-time Grammy-nominated arranger, orchestrator, and producer. His newest album Alegría was recorded with bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and Dafnis Prieto and released July 2024 on ArtistShare. It is described as “buoyant joy” by JazzViews. net and “an instant jazz piano trio classic” by Modern Drummer. Berg’s original song “At Last,” featured on the Alegría album, was nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.

Prior albums Gershwin Reimagined: An American in London (Decca Gold), The Deep (Chesky), The Nearness of You (Arbors), Blackbird (Concord) and The Will (CARS) are critically acclaimed. Berg earned three Grammy nominations in the Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) category with jazz singer-lyricist Lorraine Feather and international superstar Gloria Estefan, and a fourth Grammy nomination as co-producer of Gloria

Estefan: The Standards (Sony). He earned his fifth Grammy nomination as co-arranger of “I Loves You Porgy / There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from the album Rendezvous (2018) featuring jazz singers Clint Holmes and Dee Dee Bridgewater with The Count Basie Orchestra.

Other recent projects include arranging, orchestrating and co-producing the Estefan Family Christmas album, and recording and/or performing with Tony Bennett, Steve Miller, Seal, Lizz Wright, Andra Day, Monica Mancini, Kari Kirkland, Carmen Bradford, Chris Botti, Renée Fleming, and Arturo Sandoval. He is also artistic director of The Jazz Cruise, artistic advisor for the Jazz Roots series at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center of Miami-Dade County, and music director of The Barclay and Beyond Jazz Orchestra at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

An award-winning educator with over 40 years of leadership in higher education, Shelly Berg is Dean and Patricia L. Frost Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He was previously the McCoy/Sample Professor of Jazz Studies at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and a past president of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE). In 2003 he was honored as Educator of the Year by the Los Angeles Jazz Society and in 2002 received the IAJE Lawrence Berk Leadership Award. In 2000 the Los Angeles Times named him one of three “Educators for the Millennium.”

His textbooks include Essentials of Jazz Theory, the Chop-Monster beginning improvisation series, Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Directors (Alfred Music) and Jazz Improvisation: The Goal-Note Method (Kendor). He has appeared as a performer and lecturer throughout the United States as well as in Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Japan, Romania and Venezuela.

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

By Aaron Grad

An American in Paris [1928]

GEORGE GERSHWIN

Born September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York

Died July 11, 1937 in Hollywood, California

George Gershwin was eleven when his family first brought a piano into their apartment. Four years later, after some lessons in classical repertoire including Chopin and Debussy, Gershwin dropped out of high school

and found work as a “song plugger” on Tin Pan Alley, New York’s row of music publishing firms. He began to write his own songs, signed on with a publisher, and gravitated toward Broadway, finding work as a rehearsal pianist on a Jerome Kern show. Gershwin’s first Broadway production opened in 1919, and the influential performer Al Jolson added Gershwin’s Swanee to a revue that year. Jolson’s recording of Swanee sold millions of copies in 1920 and put Gershwin on the map as a top songwriter.

Gershwin reached a new milestone with the show Lady, Be Good in 1924— it was his first full show with his brother Ira as lyricist, and it also marked his first collaboration with Fred Astaire. The same year, Gershwin made his debut as a “serious” composer with Rhapsody in Blue, a groundbreaking composition that brought jazz and its distinctive blue-note inflections into the concert hall, featuring Gershwin at the piano accompanied by a group that was part dance band, part orchestra. Gershwin delved further into concert music with the Piano Concerto in F from 1925, which he performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Symphony Orchestra.

Gershwin’s next major classical endeavor was the tone poem An American in Paris. He had visited Paris several times since 1924, and he conceived a work that would, as he explained in a 1928 interview, “portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris, as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere.” He wrote much of the music during several months spent in Paris in 1928, and he orchestrated the score himself in time for the premiere that December in New York.

The quintessential moment highlighting the intersection of American jazz and European classical music comes when the trumpet plays a sultry solo into the felt crown of a fedora hat (or a mute with a similar tone), a moment in which, according to Gershwin, “our American friend, perhaps after strolling into a café and having a couple of drinks, has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness.”

Rhapsody in Blue [1924]

GEORGE GERSHWIN

The bandleader Paul Whiteman managed to position himself as “the king of jazz” in the early 1920s by tidying up the rough and unpredictable sounds of early improvised jazz and presenting it in the grandest possible way, with a large and impeccably polished dance band. In his efforts to “legitimize” jazz and bring it the same respect as European art music, he sought to fuse jazz and classical styles together—and he saw in the young songwriter George Gershwin just the partner he needed. Using a bit of chicanery to overcome Gershwin’s resistance (by planting a story in a newspaper that the piece was

already being written for a concert five weeks away), Whiteman secured the commission of the century, with Gershwin rushing to compose the jazz concerto he titled Rhapsody in Blue. Whiteman’s orchestrator Ferde Grofé made quick work of the original arrangement for his boss’ touring band, and he also created the orchestral version heard here.

Rhapsody in Blue borrows many elements from jazz, starting with a sultry clarinet melody that leans heavily on the flattened-seventh tone of the scale, a quintessential “blue note.” The lyrical theme that makes a grand entrance some nine minutes into the work would be gorgeous in any setting, but it is the syncopated counter-line that drives home its emotional impact. As the first of Gershwin’s forays into “classical” music, Rhapsody in Blue captures the moment that this brash, confident young New Yorker truly made the world his oyster.

Prelude and Quadruple Fugue [1936, rev. 1954]

ALAN HOVHANESS

Born March 8, 1911 in Somerville, Massachusetts

Died June 21, 2000 in Seattle, Washington

As an only child growing up in New England, Alan Hovhaness found solace exploring the hilly landscapes around him, planting the seed of his approach to music and life that celebrated the metaphysical and spiritual dimensions of the natural world. He took piano lessons starting at seven, but his parents disapproved of his experiments with composition and so he had to “compose in the bathroom and hide the manuscripts under the bathtub,” he later recounted. His first formal training as a composer didn’t come until he enrolled at the New England Conservatory in Boston. It also brought him into contact with local musicians who were at the vanguard of transplanting Indian classical music to the United States, introducing a global perspective that remained a constant in Hovhaness’ musical language.

Hovhaness was just 25 when he composed the material for the Prelude and Quadruple Fugue as part of a larger work for string quartet. He then revised it nearly 20 years later into a single connected movement for orchestra. One of its early champions was Leopold Stokowski, who conducted it with the Boston Symphony; more recently, the strongest booster of Hovhaness’ music has been our own Maestro Schwarz, who recorded this work with both the Seattle Symphony and the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra. This early example of Hovhaness’ craft already shows his inclination toward mystical, Asian-oriented themes, and it honors his affection for Bach by using the same rigorous format of a fugue based on four subjects that Bach famously constructed in his Art of Fugue.

Pines of Rome [1924]

OTTORINO RESPIGHI

Born July 9, 1879 in Bologna, Italy

Died April 18, 1936 in Rome, Italy

Born in the small Italian city of Bologna, Respighi built up a modest career in his hometown as a violist, piano accompanist and teacher, interrupted by some brief but influential periods spent in Russia (where he studied with master orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov) and Berlin (as a student of Bruch). At 34, he landed a job teaching composition in Rome, and it was in his adopted home that he became a late-blooming legend of orchestral music thanks to three scores that honored the Eternal City: The Fountains of Rome (1916), The Pines of Rome (1924) and Roman Festivals (1928).

The trees that Respighi referenced in The Pines of Rome are stone pines or “umbrella” pines, a common sight in Rome with their broad, umbrellashaped canopies rising over bare trunks. (These trees also produce the pine nuts that are a staple of Italian cuisine.) He crafted the score as four connected vignettes, beginning with a sparkling scene meant to evoke children playing at the Villa Borghese, Rome’s large park occupying the former gardens of the wealthy Borghese family. The second episode depicts pines near an unspecified catacomb, the hallowed ground represented by slow music in the manner of plainchant.

The third section, introduced by a piano interlude, captures a full moon illuminating the pines on the Janiculum, a hill with an expansive view over the city. In an early example of electro-acoustic music, Respighi called for a particular recording of a nightingale call to play over the closing measures. The final section represents pines on the Appian Way, the legendary road into ancient Rome that stretched all the way to the Adriatic Sea (on the heel of Italy’s “boot”). As Respighi wrote in his own program note, the marching music ushers in “a fantastic vision of past glories. Trumpets blare, and the army of the Consul bursts forth in the grandeur of a newly risen sun.”

Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 7:30 pm

Dreyfoos Hall

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Misha Dichter, piano

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

The Snow Maiden Suite

I. Introduction

II. Dance of the Birds

III. Cortège

IV. Dance of the Skomorokhi

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

Misha Dichter, piano

INTERMISSION

Nikolai RimskyKorsakov (1844-1908)

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Elegía Andina “Andean Elegy”

The Three-Cornered Hat

I. Introduction

PART I:

II. Afternoon

III. Dance of the Miller’s Wife (Fandango)

IV. The Grapes

PART II:

V. Dance of the Neighbors (Seguidillas)

VI. The Miller’s Dance

VII. The Corregidor’s Dance

VIII. The Final Dance

Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

This evening’s Guest Artist is generously sponsored by Thomas Harvey & Cathleen Black

ARTIST PROFILE

MISHA DICHTER

Misha Dichter, born September 27, 1945, in Shanghai to Polish-Jewish parents fleeing World War II, is an acclaimed American pianist whose career spans over six decades. Relocating to Los Angeles at age two, he began piano lessons at five, laying the groundwork for a prodigious talent shaped by rigorous study. He trained under Aube Tzerko, a student of Artur Schnabel, who instilled a meticulous approach to musical analysis, and later with Rosina Lhévinne at The Juilliard School, embodying the Russian Romantic tradition. Dichter also studied composition with Leonard Stein, a disciple of Arnold Schoenberg, enriching his interpretive depth.

At 20, while still at Juilliard, Dichter won the Silver Medal at the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, propelling him onto the world stage. His debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf at Tanglewood, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, was broadcast live on NBC and recorded for RCA. He later debuted with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein in 1968, cementing his reputation. Dichter’s dual heritage—Russian Romanticism and German Classicism—shines in his performances of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, and Brahms, with major orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

His extensive discography on Philips, RCA, Music Masters, Pentatone and Koch Classics includes a range of recordings from the Brahms Concerti with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra to Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ with John Williams and the Boston Pops. A champion of chamber music, Dichter has performed almost the entire chamber music repertoire at all the major music festivals. He also often performs two-piano and four-hand works with his wife, Cipa Dichter, a brilliant Brazilian-born pianist he met at Juilliard. Their 2005 recording of Mozart’s complete fourhand piano works on Nimbus was hailed as “an unmitigated delight” by American Record Guide. Their Mozart Double Concerto is legendary!

Beyond music, Dichter is a writer, contributing to The New York Times, and a skilled sketch artist whose drawings have been exhibited in New York galleries. He teaches masterclasses at Juilliard, Curtis, Yale, and Aspen, emphasizing artistry over careerism. Residing in New York with Cipa, their Springer Spaniel Baxter, and father to two sons, Dichter remains a vital force in classical music, blending technical wizardry, sense of sound and intellectual rigor with passionate expression.

PARKER ARTISTS.

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

By Aaron Grad

Suite from The Snow Maiden [1881/1895]

NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Born March 18, 1844 in Tikhvin, Russia

Died June 21, 1908 in Lyubensk, Russia

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer with some childhood training in piano and composition when he was introduced in 1861 to Mily Balakirev, a Russian composer and critic at the start of an influential career. Balakirev dreamed of defining an authentic Russian sound in concert music, and the young and talented semi-pro composers he gathered around him grew into the clique known as “The Russian Five,” including the civil servant Modest Mussorgsky and the chemist Alexander Borodin.

During a three-year naval voyage, Rimsky-Korsakov took Balakirev’s advice to study Berlioz’ treatise on orchestration along with any scores he could find at ports of call (which included London, New York, and Rio de Janeiro). On the strengths of his early orchestral scores, Rimsky-Korsakov earned a faculty position at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871, and from his start as an untrained outsider he grew to become an influential teacher and trendsetter in Russia and beyond, revered above all for his kaleidoscopic sense of orchestral color.

A major breakthrough in Rimsky-Korsakov’s career came in 1882 when the Mariinsky Opera debuted his opera The Snow Maiden. With a mythological plot and a rural setting full of singing and dancing villagers, it gave the composer a platform to show off his understanding of Russian folklore and his ear for instrumentation. In 1895, he packaged some of the opera’s highlights into this orchestral suite. The fast finale in particular, depicting “The Dance of the Clowns,” is a master class in how to infuse an orchestra with the rhythmic vitality of Russian folksong—a style inseparable from the particular phrasing and accented syllables of the spoken language.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 [1934]

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF

Born April 1, 1873 in Oneg, Russia

Died March 28, 1943 in Beverly Hills, California

Sergei Rachmaninoff established a solid reputation as a composer and conductor in the early years of the twentieth century, but it was his virtuosity at the piano that elevated him to international stardom. When the Russian Revolution forced him into exile at the end of 1917, he embraced the lucrative but exhausting business of touring as a virtuoso pianist around the United States and Europe, relegating his composing to the rare breaks in his performing schedule. It was during his summer vacation in 1934, spent at his custom-built villa in Switzerland, that he composed the last of his showpieces for piano and orchestra, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Rachmaninoff took his source material from the Caprice No. 24 for solo violin by Niccolò Paganini, composed around 1805. Paganini was

the archetypal virtuoso of the Romantic era: a fiery character whose incomparable skill could only have resulted from “a deal with the devil,” so the story goes. (He actually just had a genetic condition that made his fingers unusually long and flexible.) Schumann, Liszt and Brahms were among the composers who adapted Paganini’s devilish Caprice prior to Rachmaninoff, and dozens of others have followed suit.

After a very brief introduction, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody begins not with the theme but with its skeleton: a first variation, marked precedente (“preceding”), which lays bare the harmonic structure. The sixth variation pulls back the tempo, in preparation for the crucial Variation No. 7, in which the piano presents new material based on the start of a medieval plainchant melody, Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”), which Rachmaninoff, rather obsessively, wove into many of his major works.

The most celebrated tune in the Rhapsody is neither the original Paganini theme nor the frightful Dies Irae, though; following a slow and dreamy seventeenth variation, the piano starts the eighteenth with a sweet solo statement that may seem totally foreign, but closer inspection reveals it to be an inversion of Paganini’s theme. (In other words, notes that step or leap upward in the original theme move downward by the same distance in this version, and vice versa.) The Rhapsody basks in this sunshine only briefly before moving back to the agitated, minor-key drama that builds to a thunderous climax and a sly exit.

Elegía Andina [2000]

GABRIELA LENA FRANK

Born September 26, 1972 in Berkeley, California

Currently resides in Mendocino County, California

When Gabriela Lena Frank appeared on a list of “the top 35 female composers in classical music” compiled in 2017 by The Washington Post, chief critic Anne Midgette pointed to the significance of Frank’s “multiculturalism” and her practice of “mingling folk feeling with compositional sophistication.” Frank wrote the following program note about Elegía Andina, which has been performed nearly 100 times since she wrote it in 2000.

Elegía Andina is dedicated to my older brother, Marcos Gabriel Frank. As children of a multicultural marriage (our father being Lithuanian-Jewish and our mother being Chinese-Peruvian-Spanish), our early days were filled with Chinese stir-fry cuisine, Andean nursery songs, and frequent visits from our New York-bred Jewish cousins. As a young piano student, my repertoire included not only my own compositions that carried overtones from Peruvian folk music but also rags of Scott Joplin and minuets by the sons of

Bach. It is probably inevitable then that as a composer and pianist today, I continue to thrive on multiculturalism.

Elegía Andina (Andean Elegy) is one of my first written-down compositions to explore what it means to be of several ethnic persuasions, of several minds. It uses stylistic elements of Peruvian arca/ira zampoña panpipes (double-row panpipes, each row with its own tuning) to paint an elegiac picture of my questions. The flute part was particularly conceived with this in mind but was also inspired by the technical and musical mastery of Floyd Hebert, principal flutist of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. In addition, as already mentioned, I can think of none better to dedicate this work to than to “Babo,” my big brother—for whom Perú still waits.

-Gabriela Lena Frank

MANUEL DE FALLA

Born November 23, 1876 in Cádiz, Spain

Died November 14, 1946 in Alta Gracia, Argentina

Manuel de Falla was born in the port town of Cádiz in southwestern Spain, an area rich with Arabic and Roma (“Gypsy”) influence. Facing limited prospects after he left the Madrid Conservatory, he moved to Paris, where he circulated with the likes of Debussy and Ravel, right at the time when they were most enthralled with “exotic” Spanish sounds in their own compositions. With the works of his heroes pointing him back toward his native roots, he returned to Spain in 1914.

Falla soon made a splash with his theatrical works La vida breve and El amor brujo, and he continued in that vein when he dramatized an Andalusian folk tale that was retold in Pedro Antonio de Alarcón’s novella El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat). The first version, introduced in 1917 in Madrid, took the form of a pantomime named after the two lead characters—El corregidor y la molinera (The Magistrate and the Miller’s Wife). In the audience was none other than Serge Diaghilev, the impresario behind the famed Ballets Russes who possessed an unmatched power to launch a composer’s international career (just ask Stravinsky). Diaghilev commissioned Falla to expand the score into a full ballet, and he included it in his company’s 1919 season in London, in a production featuring sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso and choreography by Leonid Massine.

The Three-Cornered Hat draws freely from the varied folk styles of Spain, especially flamenco, that style of singing and dancing born from the intersection of European, Romani and North African cultures. In the introduction, a robust fanfare of timpani and brass halts with the bone-dry

The Three-Cornered Hat [1919]

rattle of castanets, shouts of “Ole!” and an ominous pronouncement from a mezzo-soprano, singing in the free style of a Gypsy song: “Little house, little house, bolt thy door with a cross-bar. For though the devil is asleep, he might wake up!”

Part I of the ballet begins in The Afternoon outside a mill. The miller tries to teach his pet blackbird to tell the time; instead of chirping twice for two o’clock, it gives three tweets, and then four. The miller’s wife enters, offers the bird a grape, and it sings twice for her.

Pompous marching music signals that the villainous magistrate is walking by in the company of his wife and bodyguards. The Dance of the Miller’s Wife is a fandango, a propulsive flamenco pattern that switches between two and three accented notes in each measure. The dance lures in the magistrate, represented here and elsewhere in the score by a solo bassoon, and the miller’s wife sweetly teases the magistrate with The Grapes.

Part II takes place later at the mill, with the miller and his wife entertaining company. The Dance of the Neighbors is a seguidillas, a flamenco partner-dance requiring quick footwork, and then the entertainment continues in The Miller’s Dance that takes the form of a farruca, complete with imitations of a flamenco guitar’s percussive strums. Then the magistrate’s bodyguard enters—his fateful role accompanied by a quotation from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5—and arrests the miller. The guests leave, the miller’s wife goes to bed, and the mezzo-soprano returns with another portentous solo: “At night the cuckoo sings, warning the married ones to turn the locks well, that the devil is unveiled.”

Following a jaunty bassoon solo, The Magistrate’s Dance takes on a more refined and mannered tone than the folksy numbers for the commoners. Through the next section of plot twists and deceptions, the music is shifty and mercurial, testing bits of themes, lingering in a sparkling diversion with toy-like piano solos, and closing with brash and dissonant chords. The final scene adopts the style of a jota, an energetic folk style with origins in northern Spain. The increasingly grand music captures the jumping character of the dance and adds in the classic flamenco texture of castanets.

PALM BEACH SYMPHONY NINTH ANNUAL HOLIDAY LUNCHEON

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2025, 10:30 AM COHEN PAVILION

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts 701 Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach

Premier venue, champagne and cocktails, expansive silent auction, glorious music, fine food, a touching instrument donation to local students and schools, and presentation of the 2025 award for Palm Beach Symphony Instrumental Music Teacher of the Year!

PALM BEACH SYMPHONY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC TEACHER OF THE YEAR

HONORARY CHAIRS

Carol and Thomas Bruce

CHAIRS

Mary and Will Demory

VICE-CHAIRS

Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez

AUCTION CHAIR

Marietta Muiña McNulty

This festive luncheon supports the Symphony’s educational initiatives and instrument donation program to benefit Palm Beach County’s underserved music students, as well as its world-class music and community outreach programs.

EVENT INFORMATION (561) 568 0265 | hselcuk@palmbeachsymphony.org palmbeachsymphony.org

Sponsorship & Underwriting Opportunities Available

Tuesday, January 13, 2026, 7:30 pm

Dreyfoos Hall

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

The Star-Spangled Banner

James “Chip” DiPaula, guest conductor*

Gateways

Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107

I. Allegretto

II. Moderato

III. Cadenza

IV. Allegro con moto

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

INTERMISSION

An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64

I. Nacht (Night)

II. Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise)

III. Der Anstieg (the Ascent)

IV. Eintritt in den Wald (Entering the Forest)

V. Wanderung Neben dem Bache (Wandering near the Stream)

VI. Am Wasserfall (At the Waterfall)

VII. Erscheinung (Apparition)

VIII. Auf blumige Wiesen (On Blooming Meadows)

IX. Auf der Alm (On the Alpine Pasture)

X. Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Going Astray)

XI. Auf dem Gletscher (On the Glacier)

XII. Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Dangerous Moments)

XIII. Auf dem Gipfel (At the Summit)

XIV. Vision (View)

XV. Nebel steigen auf (Fog Arises)

Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)

Daniel Asia (b. 1953)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

XVI. Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (The Sun Gradually Darkens)

XVII. Elgie (Elegy)

XVIII. Stille vor dem Sturm (Calm Before the Storm)

XIX. Gewitter und Sturm (Thunder and Storm)

XX. Sonnenuntergang (Sunset)

XXI. Ausklang (Vanishing Sound)

XXII. Nacht (Night)

This evening’s Guest Artist is generously sponsored by the Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation and The Honorable Ronald A. Rosenfeld

*The opportunity to conduct Palm Beach Symphony was an auction item won at Palm Beach Symphony’s annual gala.

ARTIST PROFILE

ALISA WEILERSTEIN

Alisa Weilerstein is one of the foremost cellists of our time. Known for her consummate artistry, emotional investment, and rare interpretive depth, she was recognized with a MacArthur “genius grant” Fellowship in 2011. Today her career is truly global in scope, taking her to the most prestigious international venues for solo recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto collaborations. With her multi-season solo

cello project, “FRAGMENTS,” Weilerstein aims to reimagine the concert experience. Comprising six programs, each an hour long, the series sees her weave together the 36movements of Bach’s solo cello suites with 27 new commissions in a multisensory production by Elkhanah Pulitzer. In the 2024-25 season, she premieres FRAGMENTS 3 at San Diego’s Jacobs Music Center, gives the New York premieres of FRAGMENTS 2 and 3 at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and performs the complete cycle at Charleston’s Spoleto Festival USA. Weilerstein regularly appears alongside preeminent conductors with the world’s major orchestras. Versatile across the cello repertoire’s full breadth, she is a leading exponent of its greatest classics and an ardent proponent of contemporary music, who has premiered important new concertos by Pascal Dusapin,Matthias Pintscher, and Joan Tower. In 2024-25, shebrings to life three more concertos, premiering Thomas Larcher’s with the New York Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony, Richard Blackford’s with the Czech Philharmonic, and Gabriela Ortiz’s with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at L.A.’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bogotá’s Teatro Mayor, and Carnegie Hall. Her other 2024-25 highlights include season-opening concerts with the San Diego and Kansas City Symphonies; returns to the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras; and duo recitals with Inon Barnatan at Stanford University and in Boston’s Celebrity Series. As an authority on Bach’s music for unaccompanied cello, in spring 2020 Weilerstein released a best-selling recording of his solo suites for Pentatone, streamed them in her innovative#36Days Of Bach project, and deconstructed his beloved G-major prelude in a Vox.com video, now viewed more than 2.2 million times. Her discography also includes chart-topping albums and the winner of BBC Music’s “Recording of the Year” award. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at nine years old, Weilerstein is a staunch advocate for the T1D community. She lives with her husband, Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare, and their two young children.

CM ARTISTS

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

By Aaron Grad

Gateways [1993]

DANIEL ASIA

Born June 27, 1953 in Seattle, Washington

Daniel Asia’s impressive resume—a master’s degree from Yale, Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, NEA grants, commissions from major symphonies, and more—attest to the high regard for his compositions within the classical music community. In 1993, when he was selected by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to compose a fanfare to celebrate the orchestra’s centennial, it placed him in excellent company; this was the same orchestra that had commissioned Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man for its 50th season.

Asia’s title, Gateways, reflects Cincinnati’s proud heritage as a “gateway” city along the Ohio River, at the intersection of North and South. An introduction featuring trumpets and snare drum place Gateways within the classic fanfare tradition that goes back hundreds of years, but it soon grows into a full-blown concert overture, with aggressive rhythms and churning patterns that place Asia squarely in the Stravinsky-Copland-Bernstein lineage of dance-driven, muscular music for large orchestra.

Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107 [1959]

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Born September 25, 1906 in Saint Petersburg, Russia

Died August 9, 1975 in Moscow, Soviet Union

Born in Saint Petersburg in the twilight of the Russian Empire, Dmitri Shostakovich came of age during the early years of the Soviet Union. He entered the Petrograd Conservatory at the age of 13, excelled in his piano and composition studies (while also working on the side as a piano accompanist for silent films), and graduated from the renamed Leningrad Conservatory at 19. Performances of his First Symphony made him a star, and he was riding high as the top Soviet composer before his 30th birthday. Then everything changed when Joseph Stalin walked out of Shostakovich’s new opera in 1936, and an official party newspaper delivered a frightening critique warning that such “formalist” music amounted to “a game of clever

ingenuity that may end very badly.”

Shostakovich rebounded from that sobering rebuke as well as a second crackdown in 1948, and he learned to bury any controversial tendencies in his music under a veneer of state-sanctioned approachability and realism. Still, even after the grip on Soviet artists loosened slightly following Stalin’s death in 1953, Shostakovich never fully shed his self-protective cloak.

Shostakovich composed the First Cello Concerto in 1959 for the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, sixteen years after they first met when the teenaged Rostropovich enrolled in Shostakovich’s composition class at the Moscow Conservatory. The soloist kicks off the first movement alone with four quick notes, and that motive proves to be all-important. The music marches a fine line between irreverence and horror, with themes that sometimes evoke the weeping/laughing duality of Jewish folk music that Shostakovich embraced in a number of works.

After beginning with lush strings, the slow movement thins out to a twopart texture that has the cellist intertwined with a single counter-line that passes around the orchestra, recalling Shostakovich’s passion for Bach and his counterpoint woven from endless horizontal threads. This bare soundscape returns at the end until the orchestra dissipates and leaves the cello alone for a cadenza substantial enough that Shostakovich considered it a movement of its own. It flows without a pause into the crushing finale that makes a sly reference to a favorite song of Stalin, proving that even in death, the dictator was still a foil for Shostakovich’s veiled resistance.

An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64 [1915]

RICHARD STRAUSS

Born June 11, 1864 in Munich, Germany

Died September 8, 1949 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

The young Richard Strauss took after his father (a famous horn player) in developing a preference for the older and more buttoned-up Classical style of Mozart and Beethoven. It was only once Strauss left home that his ears opened up to the “music of the future,” to quote a phrase associated with his new musical idol, Richard Wagner. In time, Strauss would inherit Wagner’s mantle as the king of progressive opera, thanks to works like Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909). But first he followed another radical innovator, Franz Liszt, into the storytelling realm of the symphonic poem, as heard in Don Juan (1889), Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (1895) and Also sprach Zarathustra (1896). These “tone poems,” to use Strauss’ preferred term, redefined the orchestral genre and placed the young composer at the forefront of the musical avant-garde.

In 1911, amid his long streak of operatic hits, Strauss revisited a draft of a movement from an abandoned work titled The Alps. His return to orchestral music was partly inspired by the death of the great symphonist Gustav Mahler, and the work that grew out of that impulse merged Mahler’s all-encompassing approach to the symphony with Strauss’ gift for descriptive and seamless tone poems.

An Alpine Symphony requires a huge orchestra, including four of each woodwind and a brass section of 18 players, balanced by two harps, organ, celesta and enlarged string sections. After the work was rehearsed, Strauss was said to have remarked, “ Now at last I have learned to orchestrate”— quite a statement from a composer whose earlier scores are linchpins of the orchestral repertoire.

The structure of An Alpine Symphony assembles 22 continuous sections that follow the arc of a single day, beginning and ending with the dark calm of Night. The descending scale segments, heard murmuring in the opening measures and repeated more robustly in the Sunrise section, form a central theme of the work.

The Ascent begins the vigorous expedition into the Alps, and then Entry into the Forest paints a vivid pastoral picture, complete with birdcalls. Four short segments follow in quick succession: Wandering by the Brook, At the Waterfall (distinguished by descending cascades), Apparition and On Flowering Meadows. Clanging cowbells mark the arrival On the Alpine Pasture, and then tangled counterpoint depicts the adventurers Straying through Thicket and Undergrowth and finally emerging On the Glacier, marked by the biting brilliance of trumpet melodies.

Ominous, scherzo-like music represents Dangerous Moments, and then, with a powerful push from the trombones, we are On the Summit, with music that blooms from a humble oboe solo into a majestic climax. The following section, Vision, turns exultant, especially when undergirded by the deep pedal notes of the organ doubled by two tubas.

Two more short sections mark the work’s turning point, as Mists Rise and then The Sun Gradually Becomes Obscured . The Elegy features expressive string melodies and a nod from the English horn to the descending theme from the opening. In Calm Before the Storm , the hovering stasis is fractured by thunder, wind and disquieting bird calls, until pizzicato raindrops and chromatic gusts unleash the ferocious section labeled Thunder and Storm, Descent .

Another variant of the descending motive colors the Sunset, and then chorale-like chords from the organ introduce the humble tone of Final Sounds. The closing section comes full circle to Night, and this hybrid symphony/tone poem concludes in the same dark hue of B-flat minor where it began.

Monday, March 2, 2026, 7:30 pm

Dreyfoos Hall

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Vadim Repin, violin

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Miami Variations

Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63

I. Allegro Moderato

II. Andante assai

III. Allegro; ben marcato

Lullaby*

Paul Moravec (b. 1957)

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Paul Moravec (b. 1957)

Vadim Repin, violin

INTERMISSION

Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90

I. Allegro con brio

II. Andante

III. Poco allegretto

IV. Allegro

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

* Commissioned for Palm Beach Symphony by Ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter in honor of Jacqueline Helena, daughter of Alina de Almeida and John Paulson.

This evening’s Guest Artist is generously sponsored by Ari Rifkin/ The Len-Ari Foundation.

ARTIST PROFILE VADIM REPIN

Vadim Repin was born in Siberia in 1971 and won all categories of the Wienawski competition at the age of eleven. His debuts in Moscow and St. Petersburg followed immediately, and at 14 he made his debut in Tokyo, Munich, Berlin and Helsinki, a year later at Carnegie Hall. At 17 he was the youngest ever winner of the Reine Elisabeth Concours. Since then he has performed with the world’s most important orchestras and conductors in all the major music centres. The list of his stage partners

includes illustrious conductors such as Ashkenazy, Boulez, Chailly, Chung, Dohnányi, Dutoit, Gergiev, Jansons, Levine, Mehta, Muti, Nagano, Ozawa, Temirkanov and Thielemann, and chamber musician partners such as Argerich, Bartoli, Capuçon, Golan, Kissin, Knyazev, Korobeinikov, Lang Lang, Lugansky and Maisky. Vadim Repin recorded the great Russian violin concertos by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky for Warner Classics; the Beethoven Violin Concerto and the Kreutzer Sonata with Martha Argerich with the Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti for Deutsche Grammophon, and the Brahms Violin Concerto and Double Concerto (with Truls Mørk, cello) with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly. DG’s trios of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov with Mischa Maisky and Lang Lang won the Echo Prize, and a CD of sonatas by Grieg, Janacek and César Franck with Nikolai Lugansky won the BBC Music Award. In 2010 he was awarded the highest French distinction, the Victoire d’Honneur and the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres for his services to music. In Beijing he was appointed Honorary Professor of the Central Conservatory of Music in 2014, a year later at the Shanghai Conservatory. Music education plays an important role in Vadim Repin’s life – and he has given masterclasses for young violinists at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and been on the jury of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in London, Tchaikovsky Competition Moscow and the Brussels Concours Reine Elisabeth.

In April 2014 he became founder and Artistic Director of the annual Transsiberian Arts Festival, which continues to be enthusiastically received in Novosibirsk and many Russian cities as well as in Japan, Israel, Vienna, the USA and France, and has been the venue of world premieres of the violin concerti dedicated to him: “Voices of Violin” by Benjamin Yussupov, “De Profundis” by Lera Auerbach, Alexander Raskatov’s “Ex Oriente Lux”, Ilya Demutsky’s Violin Concerto, “Dialogue: You and I” by Sofia Gubaidulina (recorded for Deutsche Grammophon with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig under Andris Nelsons). Most recently Vadim Repin premiered Arvo Pärt’s revised version of “La Sindone” to which the composer, marking his 85th year, added a solo violin part for Vadim Repin. On a European tour with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, he played the world première and numerous performances of the double concerto “Shadow Walker” by Mark-Anthony Turnage, together with Daniel Hope. Recent highlights are performances of the programme “Pas de Deux” together with internationally renowned ballerina Svetlana Zakharova in Hong Kong, Muscat, Japan and Korea, and concerts at the Enescu Festival Bucharest, in Verbier and at the Montreal Festival, with the RAI Torino Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, the Japan Philharmonic concerts with orchestra in Abu Dhabi, Poland, Italy and France, and recitals in Seoul and Rome. Vadim Repin plays a violin by Niccolo Amati dated 1664.

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

By Aaron Grad

Miami Variations [2025]

PAUL MORAVEC

Born November 2, 1957 in Buffalo, New York

Currently resides in New York, New York

The 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music placed a long-overdue spotlight on Paul Moravec, a composer who has always been cherished by elite musicians who know that his colorful, nuanced scores are as delightful to play as they are to hear. For all his extensive training at Harvard and Columbia Universities, Moravec bucked the orthodoxy of his generation that celebrated obscure and cerebral methods of composition. Instead his music seems to focus on what it is communicating, not how. “What I can do,” Moravec explained in an interview with New Music Box, “is to capture and project emotion: joy, sadness, the whole range of human emotion. Whether or not you as an individual listener receives it in that way or understands what I’m saying, that’s a whole other matter, but that’s what I’m trying to do as a composer.”

Moravec composed Miami Variations for a 2025 premiere at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where Maestro Schwarz is a Distinguished Professor of Music and conductor of the school’s symphony orchestra. Moravec describes the work as “essentially a series of variations on the four-note motive heard at the outset in the timpani and the harp. The piece divides into six sections, each new section announced by the generating motive sounding in the timpani. The composition begins slowly and then gradually accelerates in tempo and emotional power to the rousing finale, like an intensifying spiral through time.”

Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63 [1935]

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Born April 15, 1891 in Sontsovka, Ukraine

Died March 5, 1953 in Moscow, Soviet Union

As a student at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Sergei Prokofiev exhibited talents as a composer and pianist that put him on course to follow in the footsteps of Russian virtuosos like Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. Prokofiev’s career in Russia was well established by the age of 26, thanks to

his early concertos and a standout first symphony, but that was the fateful year of 1917, when the October Revolution upended Russian society.

Like most artists with the means to do so, Prokofiev went into exile, but he struggled in his attempts to restart his career, first in the United States and then in France. Western tastemakers dismissed Prokofiev’s increasingly direct and heartfelt manner of composing—a style that he described as “new simplicity”—and meanwhile overtures from the Soviet Union revealed that there was still a receptive audience there for his music. Prokofiev returned for his first concert tour in 1927, and he ultimately moved back to Moscow in 1936, making him the only major Russian artist to repatriate after the Revolution.

The Violin Concerto No. 2, from 1935, turned out to be Prokofiev’s final commission outside of the Soviet Union. Supporters of the French violinist Robert Soetans funded the work, which Prokofiev composed in Paris and during a concert tour through the Soviet Union. Soetans debuted the concerto in Madrid, Spain, where the local audience surely appreciated Prokofiev’s inclusion of castanets in the orchestration.

The concerto fulfills the promise of a “new simplicity” from its opening measures, entrusting an unadorned theme to the solo violin. That melody haunts the first movement, ultimately silencing a contrasting lyrical strain and returning for a charged final statement with bellicose plucks.

The slow movement takes up the same ascending triad pattern that began the first movement, transporting it to a peaceful accompanying texture for clarinets and pizzicato strings. The solo violin floats above with a melody of timeless beauty and grace, soaring into the instrument’s highest range as the theme passes to the orchestra.

The finale confirms that Prokofiev’s move toward simplification did not dampen his wry humor. The music builds to a propulsive coda, the violin’s perpetual motion figures urged forward by a thudding bass drum and throbbing accompaniment.

Lullaby [2025]

PAUL MORAVEC

Moravec’s Lullaby was commissioned by Ambassador Bonnie McElveenHunter for the Palm Beach Symphony. Like many cradle songs of yore, it uses a gently swaying pulse of three beats per measure, in a slow tempo that Moravec instructs should be “quiet” and “tender.” The solo violin begins with singable phrases in a comfortable vocal range, but its consoling phrases become more active and wide-ranging as the emotions intensify.

Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 [1883]

JOHANNES BRAHMS

Born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany

Died April 3, 1897 in Vienna, Austria

“I shall never write a symphony,” Brahms lamented in 1870. “You can’t have any idea what it’s like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!” The giant in question was Beethoven, and his legacy haunted Brahms, especially in the genres of symphonies and string quartets. Brahms was 40 by the time he released a quartet, and 43 before his First Symphony reached the public. After that tipping point, orchestral music poured out of Brahms’ pen, with three more symphonies, three concertos and two overtures coming in the decade that followed.

Brahms composed most of the Third Symphony during his summer vacation in a German spa town in 1883. Within this example of abstract or “pure” music, there are two outside influences that have fascinated musicologists for generations. One is the suggestion that Brahms derived his wide-leaping main theme from alpine yodeling, drawing on his happy memories of other vacations in the Austrian Alps. Even before that theme begins, three initial chords present the other coded reference, embedded in the top notes that rise from F to A-flat to F again, an octave higher.

Brahms left no definitive comment, but the supposition is that these notes stand in for the initial letters of the German phrase “Frei aber froh” (free but happy), a riff by Brahms-the-bachelor on the old tagline of his friend Joseph Joachim, the violinist who declared himself “Frei aber einsam” (free but lonely). In the home key of F major, the A-flat is out of place, shifting the harmony to F-minor instead— perhaps adding a question mark to the claim: “free but happy?” This conflict of major and minor runs throughout the opening movement, as does that three-note motive, which crops up in a variety of contexts and transpositions.

The Andante leaves behind the mixed messages of the opening movement, clearing the air with sweet woodwind chorales and warm echoes from the lower strings. Still the “free but happy” motive lingers, as in the last rising answer from the violas before the oboes introduce a new theme.

Rather than a lively scherzo, the symphony’s third movement takes the form of a pensive intermezzo marked Poco allegretto. The rising and falling themes, phrased like questions and answers, continue this symphony’s sense of internal debate. The contrasting trio section once again toys with the thin margin that separates the minor and major expressions of a chord.

Defying the usual conventions, this F-major symphony begins its finale in the stark landscape of F-minor. The F – A-flat – F motive returns to settle the matter, with the horns leading the way toward humble woodwind chorales (recalling the second movement) and a drawn-out cadence that traces the “free but happy” intervals one last time.

Sunday, April 19, 2026, 3:00 pm

Dreyfoos Hall

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Simon Trpčeski, piano

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 3

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26

I. Andante - Allegro

II. Andantino

III. Allegro ma non troppo

Simon Trpčeski, piano

INTERMISSION

Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47

I. Moderato

II. Allegretto

III. Largo

IV. Allegro non troppo

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

This evening’s Guest Artist is generously sponsored by Walter Harper

ARTIST PROFILE SIMON TRPČESKI

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski (pronounced terp-CHESS-kee) has established himself as one of the most remarkable musicians to have emerged in recent years, praised not only for his powerful virtuosity and deeply expressive approach, but also for his charismatic stage presence. Launched onto the international scene twenty years ago as a BBC New-Generation Artist, his fast-paced career has seen him collaborate with over a hundred different orchestras on four continents with appearances on the most prestigious stages.

Simon Trpceski is a frequent soloist with the major North American orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, and the Chicago, San Francisco, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and Baltimore symphonies among others. Engagements with major European ensembles include all of the major London orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre National de France and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Elsewhere, he has appeared with the New Japan, China, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonics and the Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and New Zealand symphonies.

The long list of prominent conductors Mr. Trpceski has worked with includes Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Macelaru, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Charles Dutoit, Jakob Hrusa, Vladimir Jurowski, Susanna Malkki, Andris Nelson, Antonio Pappano, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas and David Zinman.

Mr. Trpceski’s fruitful collaboration with EMI Classics, Avie Records, Wigmore Hall Live, Onyx Classics, and currently Linn Records has resulted in a broad and award-winning discography which includes repertoire such as Rachmaninoff’s complete works for piano and orchestra and the Prokofiev piano concertos as well as works by composers such as Poulenc, Debussy and Ravel. Variations, his latest solo album for Linn Records released in Spring 2022, features works by Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart and received CD of the Month in Fono Forum (Germany) and an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone (UK).

Born in Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpceski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Boris Romanov. Committed to strengthening the cultural image of his native country, his chamber music project MAKEDOMISSIMO is dedicated to introducing audiences world-wide to the rich traditional Macedonian folk roots, which weaves the Macedonian folk music tradition with highly virtuosic, jazz influenced riffs and harmonies into one unique sound world. Since its successful premiere in 2018, Makedonissimo has performed to audiences world-wide and released a CD on Linn Records. In 2023, Makedonissimo opened a new chapter with Concerto Makedonissimo, a concertante version premiered with the Tonkünstler Orchestra and Yutaka Sado at the Musiekverein in Vienna.

With the special support of KulturOp — Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organization — Mr. Trpceski also works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia to help cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists. In 2009, Mr. Trpceski received the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia and in 2011, he became the first-ever recipient of the title “National Artist of Macedonia.”

CM ARTISTS

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

By Aaron Grad

Scherzo fantastique [1908]

IGOR STRAVINSKY

Born June 5, 1882 near Saint Petersburg, Russia

Died April 6, 1971 in New York, New York

As of 1902, Igor Stravinsky was a young law student whose musical pursuits amounted to some piano lessons and a year of private theory training. As he began to think more seriously of a life in music, he arranged to show some of his scores to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the leading teacher and tastemaker in Saint Petersburg. Rimsky-Korsakov steered Stravinsky away from the conservatory, where the untrained 20-year-old would have stuck out, but he saw enough promise that he took Stravinsky on as a private student.

The death of Rimsky-Korsakov in 1908 ended Stravinsky’s whirlwind apprenticeship. His real arrival as a professional composer came early the next year, when two short orchestral compositions, Scherzo fantastique and Fireworks, debuted on the same program. One attendee who recognized Stravinsky’s burgeoning talent was the ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes; he soon took a chance on Stravinsky when the original composer tapped for The Firebird fell through, and the rest is history.

In a letter to Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky described his plan for an orchestral scherzo based on an essay by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck titled “The Life of Bees.” Stravinsky later disavowed any connection to that source—perhaps because of the copyright troubles he encountered when it was staged as a ballet under Maeterlinck’s title—but the published score did offer a summary of a bee-themed narrative, including “the nuptial flight of the queen bee, the love flight with her chosen mate, and his death.”

With its vibrant textures and robust themes, Scherzo fantastique demonstrates how well Stravinsky absorbed the lessons of Rimsky-Korsakov, especially in the craft of orchestration. There are flashes of the ritualistic bombast that served Stravinsky so well in his forthcoming ballets, and at the same time hints arise of the sparkling clarity that Stravinsky maximized during his later decades of neoclassical exploration.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26 [1921]

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Born April 15, 1891 in Sontsovka, Ukraine

Died March 5, 1953 in Moscow, Soviet Union

Prokofiev, like so many other Russian artists and intellectuals, left his homeland in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. With World War I raging to the west, he traveled east through Siberia, Tokyo and Honolulu before entering the United States in San Francisco, where he was briefly suspected of being a spy. He struggled to restart his career in New York, but he did have some luck in Chicago, where he secured a commission to compose the opera known in English as The Love for Three Oranges, and where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra claimed premiere rights for his Piano Concerto No. 3.

Prokofiev wrote most of that concerto in 1921 during a summer beach vacation in France. He was back in the U.S. later that year to perform the concerto on a tour that included stops in Chicago and New York, but even with a piece written with American audiences in mind (the presumption being that Americans ears favored simple material and big effects), Prokofiev didn’t come even close to replicating the success that his older compatriot Sergei Rachmaninoff achieved with his own American-tailored Third Piano Concerto. Having exhausted his options for an American career, Prokofiev moved on to Europe in 1922, and when he found that he didn’t fit in there either, he became the only major artist to repatriate in the Soviet Union.

Some of the themes in the Third Piano Concerto were sketched before Prokofiev left Russia, including the folklike melody intoned by clarinet to start the introduction. The fast body of the movement reinterprets this theme when the piano soloist makes a dazzling entrance, setting the concerto’s penchant for dry, propulsive textures and sparkling filigree.

In Prokofiev’s own recording as soloist from 1932, we can hear his pure and incisive playing style, and his orchestrations match that crisp aspect of his musical personality, in details like the bony click of castanets in the first movement’s contrasting theme, or in the sparse mock-tragedy of the middle movement’s theme, launching a riotous set of variations. The finale, built from a Russian-inflected theme borrowed from a discarded string quartet, disrupts its own hearty progress with an ominous melody over oscillating accompaniment. This was no meat-and-potatoes composition, and it failed to make Prokofiev a heartthrob of the American concert circuit, but it has aged well as one of the most alluring and attractive concertos of its era.

Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 [1937]

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Born September 25, 1906 in Saint Petersburg, Russia

Died August 9, 1975 in Moscow, Soviet Union

On January 26, 1936, Joseph Stalin walked out of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District during the third act. Two days later, the official Communist party newspaper published a scathing review titled “Muddle instead of Music,” in which the critic warned, “It is a game of clever ingenuity that may end very badly.” Deeply shaken by what he knew was no idle threat, Shostakovich was understandably cautious with his next works, withdrawing his Fourth Symphony before the planned debut in 1936 and shelving his only other major work of the year, Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin, until 1940.

Shostakovich began his Fifth Symphony in April of 1937, and he completed the scoring that fall. No established conductor would take on the score, so the task of preparing the debut fell to Yevgeny Mravinsky, a young conductor who had recently joined the Leningrad Philharmonic.

The premiere of the Fifth Symphony on November 21, 1937, was a watershed moment in Shostakovich’s career, capped by curtain calls that lasted some thirty minutes, until the stunned composer was escorted out of the hall. It was a remarkable redemption for Shostakovich, coming less than two years after his official rebuke.

The symphony strikes an ominous tone from the beginning. In the first four measures, the strings introduce three gestures of central importance to the rest of the movement: a leaping figure with a snapping, dotted rhythm; a sequence of descending, sigh-like fragments; and a closing motif of three repeated notes. With this material laid out, the violins intone a quiet, nervous melody over an accompaniment built from the leaping motive. Music of a contrasting character arrives with a recurring figure that repeats a long-short-short rhythm, itself a variant of the earlier “sighing” motive. At first this marching music is sweet and docile, but later the same rhythmic pattern supports a frightful journey to a harrowing climax.

The scherzo comes next, and at first the heavy bass line promises more of the first movement’s intensity, but ultimately a juxtaposition of bombastic and silly music creates a carnival-like atmosphere.

The Largo third movement echoes the opening of the symphony, beginning with strings alone, subdivided here into eight sections to create a rich, layered sound. Offsetting the somber gravity of the strings, passages featuring solo woodwinds and flecks of harp and celesta cut through like beams of light.

The finale is a brutish march that again toes the line between sincerity and parody. On one level it appears to be a model example of the “Socialist Realism” demanded by Stalin, glorifying Soviet might in an accessible language

Sunday, May 17, 2026, 3:00 pm

Dreyfoos Hall

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Emanuel Ax, piano

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Young Singers of the Palm Beaches, guest chorus

Egmont Overture, Op. 84

Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 482

I. Allegro

II. Andante

III. Rondo: Allegro

The Planets, Op. 32

I. Mars, the Bringer of War

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Emanuel Ax, piano

INTERMISSION

II. Venus, the Bringer of Peace

III. Mercury, the Winged Messenger

IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

V. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age

VI. Uranus, the Magician

VII. Neptune, the Mystic

Young Singers of the Palm Beaches, guest chorus

Gustav Holst (1874-1933)

This evening’s Guest Artist is generously sponsored by Suzanne Mott Dansby.

ARTIST PROFILE

EMANUEL AX

Born to Polish parents in what is today Lviv, Ukraine, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. Mr. Ax made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series, and in 1974 won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, followed four years later by the Avery Fisher Prize.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of his first appearance with the orchestra, the 2025/26 season begins with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Carnegie Hall on October 31. Fall also includes an Asian tour that will take him to Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. Following the world premiere at Tanglewood in summer 2025, the concerto written for him by John Williams will have its Boston Symphony subscription debut in January with the NY premiere one month later with New York Philharmonic. As a guest artist he will return to orchestras in Dallas, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Charleston, Madison, Naples and New Jersey. In recital he can be heard in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Santa Barbara, Des Moines, Cedar Falls, Schenectady and Princeton. An extensive European tour will include concerts in Munich, Prague, Berlin, Rome and Torino.

Mr. Ax has been a Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987 and following the success of the Brahms Trios with Kavakos and Ma, the

trio launched an ambitious, multi-year project to record all the Beethoven Trios and Symphonies arranged for trio of which the first three discs have been released. He has received GRAMMY® Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn’s piano sonatas. He has also made a series of GRAMMY-winning recordings with Yo-Yo Ma of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. In the 2004/05 season Mr. Ax contributed to an International EMMY® Award-Winning BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust that aired on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In 2013, Mr. Ax’s recording Variations received the Echo Klassik Award for Solo Recording of the Year (19th Century Music/Piano).

Mr. Ax is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Skidmore College, New England Conservatory of Music, Yale University, and Columbia University. For more information about Mr. Ax’s career, please visit EmanuelAx.com.

OPUS 3 ARTISTS

YOUNG SINGERS OF THE PALM BEACHES

Young Singers of the Palm Beaches is a dynamic and inspiring communitybased children’s choir that has been igniting the passion of children in grades 2-12 for two decades. Since 2003, the organization’s commitment to creating a supportive and nurturing environment for its singers is evident in every activity it undertakes, from its highly acclaimed performances to its innovative education initiatives. Using music as a common denominator, Young Singers gives children the tools to thrive musically, academically, and personally. In June 2024, the choir performed as the Spotlight Choir at Carnegie Hall in “A Light Shines.” Young Singers of the Palm Beaches, or YSPB as it is fondly known, rehearses at the Kravis Center, in Boynton Beach and in North Palm Beach. For more information visit yspb.org.

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

By Aaron Grad

Overture to Egmont, Op. 84 [1810]

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Born December 1770 in Bonn, Germany

Died March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria

Alone, nearly deaf, and bullheaded as ever, Beethoven was fuming that Vienna had been occupied for the second time by the forces of a powerhungry dictator. This was 1809, just five years past when Beethoven had hailed Napoleon as a revolutionary hero who would smash through royal corruption. Then the general crowned himself emperor, and the composer tore up the title page on which he had named his Third Symphony “Bonaparte.” And now Napoleon’s army was laying waste to Beethoven’s adopted home city and making life and the pursuit of music impossible. It was around this same time that Beethoven’s admiration peaked for the greatest writer in the German language, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). From literature to science to religion, Goethe’s writings preached self-reliance and reason, and that the way to tame the chaos of the human condition was to trust your perceptions and think for yourself.

Beethoven was understandably thrilled when he was asked in 1810 to write incidental music for a revival of Goethe’s play Egmont. Beyond his passion for the author, it aligned with Beethoven’s eagerness to get back into a theater after his only opera, Leonore, flopped after short runs in 1805 and 1806. He was working on getting it back onto the stage (which finally occurred in 1814, with revisions and a name change to Fidelio), but meanwhile this project on related themes of oppression and liberation gave Beethoven a chance to make an impression in Vienna’s theater scene.

Egmont, set in the sixteenth century, followed the tribulations of a real-life hero, the Count of Egmont, who was convicted of treason and executed after he protested the Spanish occupation in his native Flanders. The Overture begins with a severe introduction in the key of F-minor, its slow and deliberate phrases punctuated by stout chords. A pulsing accompaniment ratchets up the tension, and then the strings pivot to the fast body of the overture, reusing a rising and falling motive to unify the two sections. The minor-key drama gives way at the end to major-key triumph in an accelerated tempo, with piccolo, trumpets and timpani reinforcing the militaristic tone.

Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major, K. 482 [1785]

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria

Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria

When Mozart, the former child prodigy, found himself still stuck at home in Salzburg in his early twenties with no solid job prospects, he took the leap of moving to Vienna in 1781 to start a freelance career. He soon attracted a loyal following on the strengths of his incomparable keyboard playing, leading to a life setup that astonished his father when he visited in 1785. “We never get to bed before one o’clock,” Leopold Mozart lamented in a letter to his daughter, “and I never get up before nine. We lunch at two or half past. The weather is horrible. Every day there are concerts; and the whole time is given up to teaching, music, composing and so forth. I feel rather out of it all. If only the concerts were over! It is impossible for me to describe the rush and bustle. Since my arrival your brother’s fortepiano has been taken at least a dozen times to the theater or to some other house.”

Some of Mozart’s most profitable ventures in those days were the orchestra concerts he self-produced and sold on subscription. His piano concertos were consistent fan favorites, and he kept audiences coming back by presenting a dozen new examples between 1784 and 1786. He completed the Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major on December 16, 1785, amid his work on the opera The Marriage of Figaro.

This was the first piano concerto in which Mozart included clarinets, and in doing so he placed a spotlight on the woodwinds in general, as heard in the prominent solos and counter-melodies throughout the opening tutti section. In the variations that make up the Andante, one episode for winds alone and another featuring a cheerful duet for flute and bassoon maintain the focus on individual woodwinds and their songlike expressivity. Nested between the hunt-inspired outer sections of the finale, a passage marked Andantino cantabile intervenes with what is essentially a whole new slow movement, one graced with woodwind passages that might be the most beautiful yet.

The Planets, Op. 32 [1914-16]

GUSTAV HOLST

Born September 21, 1874 in Cheltenham, England

Died May 25, 1933 in London, England

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Gustav Holst helped end the dry spell that had left England without any major homegrown composers for 200

years. He shared with his peers Elgar and Vaughan Williams a deep affection for English folksongs, but Holst also took inspiration from more esoteric sources like astrology and Sanskrit literature, and his great admiration for Wagner’s mythmaking operas helped him learn how to create new worlds in his music. Meanwhile he kept pace with younger rivals like Stravinsky and Schoenberg, opening his ears to new approaches to the orchestra. All those forces culminated in Holst’s masterpiece, The Planets, composed in seven movements for orchestra between 1914 and 1916, and still his chief claim to fame.

Holst allowed the astrological meanings of the planets and associated traits drawn from Roman mythology to dictate the character of the movements, as summarized in their titles. The cycle begins with Mars, Bringer of War, an ominous and ultimately brutal evocation of battle that took a page from Stravinsky’s ritualistic ballets. Holst’s approach to the orchestral sound of war has been imitated so often and effectively (John Williams’ score for Star Wars being the quintessential example) that it’s easy to forget how original and astounding this sound was when it first reached the public in 1918.

Mars gives way to the gentle strains of Venus, the Bringer of Peace, followed by the quicksilver charms of Mercury, the Winged Messenger. In this cycle organized purely for its musical flow, next comes Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, a gentle giant that is surprisingly nimble and buoyant, even with its brassy heft. Slow and noble music marches inevitably onward with clocklike regularity in Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age, and then Uranus, the Magician conjures a swirl of organized chaos unified by a recurring four-note motive.

There’s no Earth in this cycle that concerns the celestial arcs of astrology, and at the time of its writing Pluto had not yet been discovered (nor demoted to a dwarf), and so The Planets stands as a set of seven, ending with Neptune, the Mystic. Tinkling celesta colors the quiet and unknowable mysteries of this most distant planet, and a concealed women’s choir heightens the sense of mysterious ritual.

© 2025 Aaron Grad.

IN MEMORY OF

DALE ARCHER MCNULTY

1941-2021

With love, Marietta and sons

Members of the Impresario Society play a pivotal role in bringing Palm Beach Symphony’s Masterworks concerts to life, featuring the finest musicians in South Florida and distinguished world-class guest artists. We are deeply grateful for their generous support in making this season’s performances possible.

Grand Impresarios

($100,000 and above)

James R. Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui / FINDLAY Galleries

Patricia Lambrecht / The Lambrecht Family Foundation

Park Foundation, Patrick and Milly Park

Impresarios

($75,000-$99,999)

Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation

Associate Impresarios

($50,000 - $74,999)

Bill and Kem Frick / The Frick Foundation, Inc.

Walter Harper

Thomas E. Harvey & Cathleen P. Black Foundation

Charles and Ann Johnson / The C and A Johnson Family Foundation

Suzanne Mott Dansby

The Honorable Ronald Rosenfeld

Contributing Impresarios

($25,000 - $49,999)

Mrs. James N. Bay

Cynthia and Jerome Canty

Amy and John T. Collins

Kathy Lee Bickham and John Bickham

Ray K. Farris

Gerry Gibian and Marjorie Yashar

John D. Herrick

GLH Hines Family

Philanthropy Fund / George and Lisa Hines

McNulty Charitable Foundation

Hank Dow and Kelly Winter

Tish Messinger

Ari Rifkin / The Len-Ari Foundation

Lois Pope

Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez

Karen Hunt Rogers

Charles Frederick Schmidt

Sieglinde Wikstrom

Assistant Impresarios

($15,000 - $24,999)

Christine and Max Ansbacher

Carol and Harold Baxter / Baxter Family Foundation

Kathleen Bleznak

Tina and Jeffrey Bolton Family Fund

Carol and Thomas Bruce

Leslie Rogers Blum

Paul Broder and Kimberly Griffiths / Broder Family Foundation

Mary and Will Demory

Michelle DuBois and James Roiter

Diane and Dr. Richard Farber

John and Teresa Ford

Jo and Douglas E. Gressette

Irwin and Janet Gusman

Cathy Jacobson

Dr. Aban and Dr. Percy Kavasmaneck

Elaine Kay

David Moscow and Linda Klein

Nancy and Ellis J. Parker, III

Katherine Pinard

Robin B. Smith

Carol and Jerome Trautschold

TODD BARRON INSTRUMENT DONATION FUND

Help make a difference by donating used or new instruments, accessories, or monetary gifts to help music students in need.

Palm Beach Symphony happily accepts donations of professional or amateur quality band and orchestral instruments. We ensure instruments meet performance standards through an evaluation, repair, and sterilization process. They are then donated to underserved schools and individual students in need throughout Southeast Florida.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT www.palmbeachsymphony.org or call 561.655.2657

Learn more by scanning the QR code:

P relude S Reimaginedociety

The Prelude Society has been reimagined as Palm Beach Symphony’s newest circle of patrons — a distinguished entry point into membership offering exclusive privileges designed to elevate every Symphony season. This vibrant society provides a stylish and accessible way to engage more deeply with the Symphony.

• INVITATION TO THE OPENING CONCERT DINNER

Enjoy a premier Symphony experience with fellow members, musicians, and leadership — an elegant evening that celebrates the start of the season.

• PRELUDE SOCIETY KICKOFF SOCIAL AT LA GOULUE

Exclusive invitation to the social debut of the revitalized Prelude Society — a stylish opportunity to connect, celebrate, and engage with new and returning members.

• ACCESS TO SELECT SYMPHONY EVENTS

Invitations to curated member experiences throughout the season, designed to bring Prelude members closer to the music and mission.

• OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE ON THE PRELUDE SOCIETY COUNCIL

Participate in leadership, event planning, and member outreach — a meaningful way to shape the Society’s growth and future direction.

• RECOGNITION AS A SYMPHONY MEMBER

Be acknowledged as part of the Palm Beach Symphony’s philanthropic community, supporting music education, artistic excellence, and community engagement.

JOIN TODAY

Call (561) 655-2657 or email rlabonte@palmbeachsymphony.org https://www.palmbeachsymphony.org/support/prelude-society 700 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 100, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

IN LOVING MEMORY: A TRIBUTE FROM OUR LADIES GUILD FOR THE LIVES WE HAVE LOST THIS PAST YEAR.

A world-renowned engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur, Hans D. Baumann was also a generous philanthropist whose steadfast support greatly strengthened Palm Beach Symphony. Alongside his late wife, Sigrid, Hans D. Baumann championed the arts in our community, lending his resources, time, and passion to ensure the Symphony’s success. A true gentleman, he loved music, travel, and sharing his joy for life with family and friends. His legacy of innovation, generosity, and cultural commitment will be felt for years to come.

A pioneering aviator and accomplished businesswoman, Sigrid M. Baumann—together with her husband, Hans— was a devoted patron of Palm Beach Symphony, supporting its mission and events with grace and enthusiasm. Serving the arts community with the same spirit she brought to her aviation feats, Sigrid enriched the cultural life of Palm Beach and inspired all who knew her. Her generosity, elegance, and adventurous heart will be remembered always.

Jan Rebecca Courte, a beloved volunteer of Palm Beach Symphony is known for her warmth, generosity, and unwavering commitment. Jan played an instrumental role in supporting the Symphony’s mission, programs and special events. Her energy, dedication, and infectious smile made her an irreplaceable presence at events and a cherished member of the Symphony family.

A woman of many talents and experiences, Jan’s life journey took her from Wall Street to archeological digs in Israel, to adventures across Europe and the Americas. She was a hospice chaplain, spiritual seeker, and a devoted patron of music and the arts. Her passion for beauty—whether in melody, culture, or human connection—shone through in all she did. Jan’s contributions to Palm Beach Symphony and to the cultural life of our community will be fondly remembered and deeply missed.

Patricia M. D’Orazio, a longtime supporter of Palm Beach Symphony, lived a life marked by dedication, courage, and accomplishment. She excelled in multiple careers—including teaching, sales, real estate, and family law—pursuing her education and professional ambitions while raising her three sons. Pat’s warmth, generosity, and spirited independence touched all who knew her. She embraced life with energy, curiosity, and faith, cherishing her family,

friends, and community. Her love and devotion were unwavering, and she remained a guiding presence to those around her. She was the first instrument donor in response to Palm Beach Symphony’s Be Instrumental! campaign and also served as a member of the Holly Jolly Symphony Fête Host Committee. Pat’s legacy of love, resilience, and generosity will continue to inspire all who were fortunate to know her.

Paul Goldner was a longstanding Board member, generous donor, and visionary founder of the Paul and Sandra Goldner Conservatory of Music. A remarkable champion of our mission, his unwavering generosity and passion for music education touched the lives of countless young musicians through our award-winning educational programs.

Paul’s leadership and dedication strengthened Palm Beach Symphony and helped shape its future. While we mourn his passing, we celebrate his extraordinary contributions and enduring legacy.

His beloved wife, Sandra, and their family remain in our thoughts. Paul’s impact on Palm Beach Symphony and the cultural life of our community will never be forgotten.

IN LOVING MEMORY

Dora Bak

Helen Alstadler Bernstein

David C. Bigelow

Harry B. Bissell

Dr. Elizabeth M. Bowden

Trudy Brekus

Mercedes Quevedo Cassidy

Barbara Lauman Claeys

Dr. Jose Figueroa

Felicia Taylor Gottsegen

Robert M. Grace

Dr. Lucia T. Harvey

Doris L. Hastings

William W. Karatz, Esq.

Helene C. Karp

Howard Lester

Patricia B. Lester

Marilyn Macron

Dale Archer McNulty

Jeannine Merrien

Margarita I. Muiña

Bernadene Rand Mileti

Sarah Pietrafesa

Steven C. Pinard

Kenneth Rogers

Leslie Rose

Marguerite Rosner

Joan G. Smith

George Robert (Bobby) Spencer

Ethel S. Stone

Sandie Tuschak

Heather McNulty Wyser-Pratte

Palm Beach Symphony extends sincere appreciation to the businesses and government agencies whose generous partnership allows us to enrich and expand our world-class music, education, and community outreach programs.

SPONSORS AND CORPORATE PARTNERS

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

PLANNED GIFTS & ENDOWMENT

Palm Beach Symphony is grateful to those who have made the commitment – through a planned gift or bequest – to help ensure the continuation of our world-class orchestra, music education, and outreach programs to enrich the community for generations to come.

Dora Bak Society

Dora Bak*

Stephen Epstein

Doris Hastings*

John Herrick

Gary and Linda Lachman

Linda Laufe

Philip Reagan

Leslie Rose*

Marguerite Rosner*

George Robert Spencer*

Ray Robinson Endowment

We are grateful to Palm Beach Symphony’s Ladies Guild for their support in establishing the Ray Robinson Endowment Fund.

David Albenda

David C.* and Eunice Bigelow

Leslie Rogers Blum

Trudy B. Brekus*

Margaret C. Donnelley

Jose* and Lurana Figueroa

Paul* and Sandra Goldner

Carol and Joseph Andrew Hays

JoAnne and Lowell Jaeger

Helene Karp*

Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation

Dale* and Marietta McNulty

Barbara Rentschler*

Ruth A. Robinson

Marguerite Rosner*

Robin B. Smith

Don and Mary Thompson

INDIVIDUAL DONORS

Palm Beach Symphony gratefully recognizes the individuals listed here for their generous financial support, which makes our season of life-enriching programs for the community possible.

Received as of October 1, 2025

Diamond Grand Benefactor

$1,000,000 and more

Dora Bak*

Golden Baton Society

Patrick and Milly Park, Honorary Chairs

Leonard and Norma Klorfine, The Klorfine Foundation

The McNulty Charitable Foundation

Lois Pope

Leslie Rose*

IMPRESARIO SOCIETY

Palm Beach Symphony is grateful to our members who play a leading role in presenting world-class Masterworks concerts with celebrated guest artists.

Grand Impresarios ($100,000+)

James R. Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui / FINDLAY Galleries

Patricia Lambrecht / The Lambrecht Family Foundation

Park Foundation, Patrick and Milly Park

Impresarios

($75,000 - $99,999)

Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation

Associate Impresarios

($50,000 - $74,999)

Bill and Kem Frick / The Frick Foundation, Inc.

Walter Harper

Thomas E. Harvey & Cathleen P. Black Foundation

Charles and Ann Johnson / The C and A Johnson Family Foundation

Suzanne Mott Dansby

The Honorable Ronald Rosenfeld

Old Charles Fund, Inc./

Charles F. Schmidt

Contributing Impresarios

($25,000 - $49,999)

Mrs. James N. Bay

Cynthia and Jerome Canty

Amy and John T. Collins

Kathy Lee Bickham and John Bickham

Ray K. Farris

Gerry Gibian and Marjorie Yashar

John D. Herrick

GLH Hines Family Philanthropy Fund / George and Lisa Hines

McNulty Charitable Foundation

Hank Dow and Kelly Winter

Tish Messinger

Ari Rifkin / The Len-Ari Foundation

Lois Pope

Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez

Karen Hunt Rogers

Sieglinde Wikstrom

Assistant Impresarios

($15,000 - $24,999)

Christine and Max Ansbacher

Carol and Harold Baxter / Baxter Family Foundation

Kathleen Bleznak

Tina and Jeffrey Bolton Family Fund

Carol and Thomas Bruce

Leslie Rogers Blum

Paul Broder and Kimberly Griffiths / Broder Family

Mary and Will Demory

Diane and Dr. Richard Farber

John and Teresa Ford

Jo and Douglas E. Gressette

Irwin and Janet Gusman

Cathy Jacobson

Dr. Aban and Dr. Percy Kavasmaneck

Elaine Kay

David Moscow and Linda Klein

Nancy and Ellis J. Parker, III

Katherine Pinard

Robin B. Smith

Carol and Jerome Trautschold

ANNUAL SUPPORT

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the individuals, corporations, and foundations whose generous support and sponsorships sustain Palm Beach Symphony’s mission.

Grand Benefactors $100,000 and more

The Doris Hastings Foundation Board of County Commissioners Palm Beach County, the Tourist Development Council, and the Cultural Council of

Palm Beach County

James R. Borynack and Adolfo

Zaralegui / FINDLAY Galleries

Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation

Patricia Lambrecht / The Lambrecht

Family Foundation

Paul and Karen Levy

Park Foundation, Patrick and Milly Park

State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts

Benefactors Gifts from $50,000 to $99,999

Herbert H. and Barbara C. Dow Foundation

Bill and Kem Frick / The Frick Foundation, Inc.

*Paul and Sandra Goldner

Ray K. Farris

Walter Harper

Thomas E. Harvey & Cathleen P. Black Foundation

Charles and Ann Johnson / The C and A Johnson Family Foundation

Suzanne Mott Dansby

The Honorable Ronald Rosenfeld

David K. Schafer

Old Charles Fund, Inc./ Charles F. Schmidt

Susan and Bob Wright

Gifts from $20,000 to $49,999

Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation

Mrs. James N. Bay

Carol and Harold Baxter / Baxter Family Foundation

Kathy Lee Bickham and John Bickham

Leslie Rogers Blum

Carol and Thomas Bruce

Cynthia and Jerome Canty

Amy and John T. Collins

Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties

Mary and Will Demory

Chip DiPaula

Hank Dow and Kelly Winter

Connie Frankino

Fox Rothschild LLP

Gerald Gibian and Marjorie Yashar

Irwin and Janet Gusman

John D. Herrick

Addison Hines Charitable Trust

GLH Hines Family Philanthropy Fund / George and Lisa Hines

Karen Hunt Rogers

Robert and Marjie Kargman

Dr. Aban and Dr. Percy Kavasmaneck

Michele and Howard Kessler / The Kessler Family Foundation

The Kovner Foundation

McNulty Charitable Foundation

The Donald C. McGraw Foundation

Tish Messinger

The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter

Nancy and Ellis J. Parker, III

Palm Beach Design Masters

PNC Private Bank

Lois Pope

Ari Rifkin / The Len-Ari Foundation

Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez

Karen Hunt Rogers

Seth Sprague Foundation / Patricia Dunnington

Robin Smith

Carol and Jerome Trautschold

Don and Mary Thompson

Sieglinde Wikstrom / The Wikstrom Foundation

Gifts from $10,000 to $19,999

Christine and Max Ansbacher

Josephine duPont Bayard

C. Kenneth and Laura Baxter Foundation, Inc.

Mrs. Eunice Bigelow

Kathleen Bleznak

Tina and Jeffrey Bolton Family Fund

Danielle and Ron Bradley

Richard and Sheryne Brekus

Manny and Sophia Burnchion –Private Cask Imports

Paul Broder and Kimberly Griffiths / Broder Family

Citizens Private Bank

Cox Science Center and Aquarium

Thomas D’Agostino, Jr and Danielle Rollins

Todd and Julie Dahlstrom

Mary and Will Demory

Dr. Richard and Diane Farber

Susan Hurley Esson

John and Teresa Ford

Eric Friedheim Foundation, Inc.

Ann R. Grimm

The Greenburg-May Foundation Inc

Jo and Douglas Gressette

Hamilton Family Charitable Trust

Carol S. and Joseph Andrew Hays

The Marsha and Carl Hewitt Foundation, Inc.

Hospital for Special Surgery

Dr. Peter Heydon/The Mosaic Foundation

The PHF Foundation / Pamela Howard

Cathy Jacobson

Elaine Kay

Sanda and Jeremiah Lambert / Lambert Kayden Family Fund

Syndie Levien

Mark J Lippman

Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation

Chehrazad Mamri

Mary Bryant McCourt

Ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter

Marietta Muiña McNulty

Mark and Biricim Miller

The David Minkin Foundation

Maurice Moradoff / Yafa Signed Jewels

David and Linda Moscow Foundation

Norman and Susan Oblon

Katherine Pinard

The Annette Urso Rickel Foundation

Robertson Family Fund / William Robertson

Kevin Sanford and Mark Samuel

Nancy and Dr. William Schneider

The Estate of George Robert Spencer

Sherri Stephenson

Don and Mary Thompson

The Ann Eden Woodward Foundation / James and Judy Woods, trustees

Gifts from $4,000 to $9,999

Berta Alberico

James H and Marta T. Batmasian

Foundation

C Gordon Beck III

Lon and Richard Behr

Hans Bergstrom & Barbara Bergstrom

Gene Bernstein & Kathleen Walsh

Edith Bjork

The Walter & Adi Blum Foundation

Thomas P. Boland

Honorable Nancy G. Brinker

Nancy M. Brown

William and Vanessa Brown

Nannette Cassidy

Gay Cinque

Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Cook

Mary Cowan

Mr. & Mrs. Howard Cox

Scott Diament / Provident Jewelry

Margaret C. Donnelley

Raysa Fanjul

Susan and Leonard Feinstein

Barbara and Meyer Feldberg

First Bank

Ralph and Audrey Friedner

Brenda Fritz

George and Sandy Garfunkel

John K. Garvey

Julie Geier

David Genser

Barbara Gilbert

Arlette Gordon

Michael Gottsegen

Jill Hall and Austin Mehr

Caroline Harless

David Hess

Priscilla Heublein

Hilton West Palm Beach, Dine for A Cause

Lisa Huertas

William Jaume and Glenn Edward

Devitt

Robin and David Jaye

Lawrence Kaplan

Dorothy and Sidney Kohl

Christina and Jason Lamport

Monica and Scott Laurans

Stephanie Lefes

Robert Lewis & Janet Soderberg

Robert M. Lichten

The Lunder Foundation / Peter and Paula Lunder

The Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation Inc.

Doug Marty / Wellington National Golf Club

Metals Mint / Eric Malcolmson

David and Millie McCoy

Dawn Galvin Meiners

John R. Mertz and Harriet G. Mertz Trust

Frank and Geri Morrow

Georgia Mouzakis

Joseph and Sharon M. Muscarelle

Nicholas and Catherine Noviello

Jeanne Olofson

Kitty and Dudley Omura

PNC Foundation

William A. and Ronnie N. Potter

Philanthropic Fund

The Raether Family Charitable Trust / KKR Financial Services Company LLC

Lady Susan Willis Reickert and Erick Reickert

Elaine & Larry Rothenberg

Michael Rourke and Michele Cestari Schimmel

David Sarama and Daniel Drennen, II

Anne E. and David R. Sauber

Gudrun Sawerthal

Jody and Maestro Gerard Schwarz

Esther Rosenberg Simon and David Simon

Eda and Stephen Sorokoff

Nancy Stone

Dr. Arthur and Jane Tiger

Bruce Trent

James Verrant

Mary Lou Wagner

Judith D. Zerfoss

Gifts from $2,000 to $3,999

AKA West Palm Hotel Residences

Brenna and Michael Barron

Bill Beadleston and Jackie Drake

The Ben Hotel

JoAnne Berkow

Tom and Jody Block Charitable Fund / Mr. Thomas Block and Mrs.

Joan D. Block

The Sandra and Stanley Bobb Family Foundation

The Boca Raton

Stanley and Roberta Bogen Charitable Foundation

David Brown

Sarmite Bulte and Steven Treiber

PJ Callahan Foundation

Vanda and Patrick Carbone

John and Marianne Castle

Vera Chapman

Donna and Andy Cook

Dr. Alexandra Cook

Maude Cook

Angela Cortesio

Dale Coudert

Elizabeth DeBrule

Linda de Spirlet

Scott and Marcia Draughon

The Dreman Foundation

Michelle DuBois and James Roiter

Mary Ann Ehrlich

Janet Ellis

Stephen Epstein

Glenn Espig

Evoke Advisors

The Fanjul Family and Florida Crystals Corporation

Ann and Lee Fensterstock

Christopher Fetes

Florida Power and Light

Rabbi Vicki and Cantor Robert Lieberman

Nathan Frank and Krystian von Speidel

Linda Frankel

Carole Gigliotti

Gottsegen Family Foundation

Charles Gradante

Jorge A Gutierrez Architect LLC

Michael and Theresa Hammond

Denis Hanrahan

Dr. Gina Harris

Debora Hartman

Iovino Family Fund / Thomas Iovino

iTHINK Financial

Robert and Ann Jaeder

Dr. William and Peggy Johnson

JP Morgan Private Bank

Evan Jones

Patricia Kennedy

Matthew Kemp and Kerinn Meisenbach

Dr. Marjorie Miller-Kihn

Taniel and Arsine Koushakjian

Marilyn and Howard Krone

Renée and James LaBonte

Ellen G. Levy

Mark J. Lippman

Sarah MacNamee and Kevin McCaffrey

The Martens Group

Michael and Shari Meltzer

Judy Miller

Modestus Bauer Foundation

Carlos G. Morrison

Joseph and Sharon Muscarelle

Jennifer Nawrocki

Nancy Newman

David Hamilton Nichols

Pauline Nutting

Harold and Elinor Oertell

Roger Osborne

Ximena Pacheco-Veliz

Dr. and Mrs. Simon Parisier

Martin Payson

Joseph Pietrafesa II and Dr. Martha Pietrafesa

Betsey and Dale Pinkert

Publix Super Market Charities

Ruby Rinker

Dr. Philip Robinson

Mary Lynn Rogers

Lawrence Rosenthal

Michael Rourke and Michele Schimmel

Becky and Noam Samson

Martin D. & Jean Shafiroff Foundation

Plimpton Shattuck Fund of the Boston Foundation

Sheehan Foundation, founded by Will Sheehan

E. A. Sheslow Philanthropic Fund

RP Simmons Family Foundation

Mae Cadwell Rovensky Foundation

Nancy and Stanley Singer

Tortoise Properties

Barbara and Richard Wortley

Judith A Wyman

Gifts from $1,000 to $1,999

Dolores and Jorge Fernandez Alonso

Michael Athmer

Richard Baker

Arlyn and David Bamberger

Debra Barron

Danny and Talia Bejarano

Bettina Bennett

Joseph Borzillieri

Matthew Brinzo

Phillip and Kimberly Brunson

Francine Burns

Mary Campbell

Tish Carlo

Charles and Jane Carroll/ Carroll Family Fund

Phillip and Deborah Clark

Susan Collins

Donna Craft

Carla Crawley

Cummings & Lockwood LLC

Charles Dale

Greg D’Elia

John Dietsch

Anna and David Dillard

David Dunlap

Philip Dunmire

La Goulue

Lora Drasner

Ron and Maureen Early

Doug and Ginny Ederle

Donald M. Ephraim Family Foundation

Cathie Fanjul

Susan and Stephen Feldman

Ann and Lee Fensterstock

Janette and Robert Garbutt

Ilene and Philip Giaquinta

Judi Gola

Dan L. Goldwasser

Karmita Gusmano

Michael and Theresa Hammond

Toni Handegard

Morton Handel

Harlan Capital

Harri Sustainable Fashion Studio

Yuliya Harris and Alexander Kappaz

Harvey Capital Management

Janet Himmel

Barbara and Robert Hurwit

Dale A. Jenkins

Joanna and Joseph Jiampietro

James Johnson

Jacqueline and Nameh Joubert

Jim & Debbie Kane / Deborah and James Kane Charitable Fund

Matthew Kemp and Kerinn Meisenbach

James and Jennifer Kimenker

Lisa Koeper

John and Kathleen Koons

James Lake

Lynn and Robert Mackle

Carolyn Maier

Alexander Mandaro

Margo Fashion Law

Zelda Mason

Thomas V. McDermott

Annette McGarry

Anna Medvedeva

William A Meyer Foundation

Jo Anne Moeller

James Moore

Sandy Myers

George Nunnaro

Harold and Elinor Oertell

Sally and Kenneth Ohrstrom

Linda Olsson

Angela Page

Matthew Parent

Jennifer Parker

Andrew Parmet

Martin Payson

Colonel Eldon Dryden Pence III

John and Stephanie Pew

Linda Phillips

Joseph and Dr. Martha Pietrafesa

Ross and Nicole Pitcoff

Juan and Shanon Pretel

Chris Rao

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

Michelle Ritter and Jeff Ritter

Dr. Marcia Robbins-Wilf & Dr. Perry Robbins

Scarlett Romoff

Dr. Lawrence and Lana Rouff

Mia Rowe

Donna Schneier

Barry Schwartz

Schwartz Family Partnership / Edward and Irma Schwartz, Michael

Schwartz, Lisa Stein Schwartz

Mary Ann and Walter Schwenk

Sandra Sexton

E. A. Sheslow Philanthropic Fund

Valerie R. Silverman

Randy Sjaardema

Alexander C. Speyer III

Bonnie and Thomas Strauss

Eliane Strosberg

Jennifer and Kyle Sullivan

TD Bank

Templeton & Company, LLP

Barbera Thornhill

Betsy and Wallace R. Turner/Town of Palm Beach United Way

Mark B. Wallace

Wellington Bay

Veronica Whitlock

Erica Morgan West

Mr. Ken West

Erika and Adam Wolek

Michelle Worth

Gail Worth and Frank Orenstein

Rita Zassenhaus

Sarah Zhao

Susan Zuckert and Steve Rogers

Gifts up to $999

Stanley and Mary Beth Adelman

Wallace Aptman

Barbara and Peter Aschheim

Asher Enterprises

Nadine Asin

Harriet L Balkind

Costanza Barducci and Enrique Pineda

Veronica Barducci

Blaine Beichler

Beliza Bermudez

Susan Bigsby

Anthony Blanksteen

Jay Block and Mary Behlin

Jarret Blum

Eve Bolton

Joseph Borzillieri

Brewster-Allen-Wichert Inc.

Nancy S. Brickley

Adrienne Broch

Carl and Barbara Buchheister

Ann Burchill

Brandon Cabrera

Melanie Camp

Susan and Philip Cardinale

Isabel Cestero

Constance Chan

The Jeanne Leonard Memorial Fund

Sylvia Chilli

Etonella Christlieb

Elizabeth Rohaidy

Arnold Cohen

Dr. Rae Conron

John Corey

Marilyn Courtot

Justis Cousins

Allen Dalton

Ian Danic

Joannie Danielides

Nancy Dauray

Franklyn DeMarco, Jr.

Leslie Dobbin

Christa Dombraski

Melissa Dumbro

Shawn M. Donnelley and Christopher M. Kelly

Karen Donnelly

Amy Dowds

Jacqueline Drake

Joseph Duhon

Steve and Ann Feiertag

Wendy and Elliott F. Eisen

Tracie Elliot-Schulman and Eli Wachtel

Mary Ernst

Greg Etimos

Marion and Burt Fainman

Willi T Field

Joel A Fierman

Beth Ashry Fishel

Patricia M. Flanagan

Rachael Flanagan

Richard S. Fleisher

Elizabeth Floyd

Jerod Field

Gerri Frankel

Paul Freehling

Elizabeth Fritz-Grant

Amanda and Justin Frobose

Jim Fryer

Michael Ganz

Bryan and Christina Garces

Mignon Gardner

Jennifer Garrigues

Nancy Garson

Stephanie Gates

Robert A. Gebbia

Charles Geilich

Joan Gelch

David Genser

Shad Goetsch

Debbie Goldenhersh

Cidney Golman

YuHua Golnick

Irene Goodkind

Jennifer Gowdy

Mary and Michael Grimaldi

Frank Grobman

Tibor Gross

Sherry Gysler

George Halliwell

Stephen Hanson

Douglas Hartwell

Philip Hayden

Virginia Hilton

Dr. Neri Holzer

Terry Hork

Charles Hwang

IndieHouse Films

Karen Ireland

John W Jacobs

Jayne Jamison

Alyssia Jaume

Dale Jenkins

Joanna Jiaampietro

Deborah Johnson

Dr. Gary Johnson

Marie Jureit-Beamish

Aramas Kaloustian

Theresa Klassen

Lawrence Kleinberg

Lori Kollmeyer

Beatrix Kondor

Herbert Krauss

Andrew Kwan

Carmen Lazo

Scott and Missy Lee

Robert & Ellen Lehrer

Dr. Gabriela Lemoine

Logan Lencheski

Laurence Levy

Robert Troy

Allison Luner

Nancy Mandell

Cathy D Mann

Michelle K. Manolis

Cecilia Martinez

George Matsoukas

John McDonald

Cindy and Terry McGeever

Matthew McGeever

Allola McGraw

Sue Mercurio

Linda Moaven

Matthew McKegney

Dr. Patric McPoland

P L Meagher

Paul Melchiorre

Susan Mercurio

Chryssi Mikus

Glen and Carmel Mitchell Foundation

David Mortman

Ashley Montgomery

Xiomi Murray

Hank Narrow

Steffanie Ngo-Hatchie

Kip O’Brien

Sally O’Connor

Susan Olsen Nolen

AlexAnndra Ontra

Anka K. Palitz

Palm Beach Yacht Club

Howard Parmet

Maureen Pelkowski

Patricia Pellegrino

Ryan Pilconis

Joel Policzer

Harriet Primack

Daria Reader

Paul and Kellie Reitnauer

Karen Restaino

Tracy Rickers

Rebecca Robinson

Dr. & Mrs. William R. Roy

Bonnie Roseman

Dina Rubio

Pilar Ruiz

Andrew and Ruby Ryba

David and Frumet Sachs

Tenchy Salas

Linda and Michael Schneider

Victoria Schneps-Yunis

Elsbeth Schuler

Michael Schulner and Terri Kamen

Sanford Schuman

Lola Scobey

Denise and Pat Segraves

Dorine Seidman

Florence Seiler

Paul Shalhoub

Maggie Shepperd

Steve and Isora

Gail Shube

Jeanette Sievers

Jeffrey Silverman

Joan Simpson

Richard and Arlene Siudek

Elizabeth Smith

Toni Smith

Walter Smith

Shelby Snider

Ann Marie Sorrell

Rachel Stockton

Deb Barron

Salomon Suwalsky

Ryan Swenson

Rita Tagle

George R Tauber

Lynn Telling

Jason Torey

Debra Tornaben

Dilara Tuncer

Carol N. Vasquez

Andrea Virgin

Gil Walsh

Linda Wartow

Ellen Wayne

Morton Weber

Suzanne L. Webster

Alex Welsh

Jennifer Whitaker

The Carol & Arnold Wolowitz Foundation, Inc.

Durwood Young

Nancy Zemsky

Fred Zrinscak

COMMEMORATIVE GIFTS

Gifts of $50 and above contributed in the name of a friend, loved one, program, and colleague are a unique expression of thoughtfulness.

MRS. JAMES N. BAY

from Shawn M. Donnelley, Elizabeth Eugenio, Robin Joseps, Kargman Charitable and Education Foundation/Bob and Margie Kargman, Christopher M. Kelly, Ruth Ann & Michael McGuinnis, Jeanne H. Olofson, Betsey and Dale Pinkert, Lynn Telling and her many friends and family

CATHIE BLACK AND TOM HARVEY from Ann and Lee Fensterstock, Sanda and Jeremiah Lambert / Lambert

Kayden Family Fund, Liz and Jeff Peek and their many friends and family

CATHIE BLACK from Harriett L. Balkind, Nicholas and Joannie Danielides, Amy Griggs, Liz and Jeff Peek and her many friends and family

LESLIE BLUM from Ann R. Grimm

TOM BOLAND from Ernest Ellison

JAMES R. BORYNACK

From Charles and Jane Carroll/ Carroll Family Fund and Pamela Howard and Wynn Laffey

SHERYNE AND RICHARD BREKUS from David and Robin Jaye

AMY AND JOHN COLLINS from Anne E. and David R. Sauber

JAMES R. BORYNACK from Michele and Howard Kessler/ The Kessler Family Foundation

MRS. PAUL GOLDNER from Carol S. and Joseph Andrew Hays

DAWN GALVIN MEINERS from Margaret Donnelley, Gail Ellis, the GGE Foundation, Marietta Muina McNulty, Jennifer and Kyle Sullivan and her many friends and family

LOIS POPE from Holly and David Dreman / The Dreman Foundation

KARA RAVASCHIERI from Marie Jureit-Beamish

MAESTRO GERARD SCHWARZ from Nadine Asin

MAESTRO GERARD SCHWARZ, DR. OLGA M. VAZQUEZ, AND SAGE LEHMAN from Marshall Rulnick

HULYA SELCUK from Polly U. Champ

BRYCE SELIGER from David Styers

RALPH & FLORENCE SHILLER from Jacqueline Groveman

NANCY STONE from Brenda Axelrod

IN MEMORY OF

TODD BARRON

from Debra Barron, Brenna and Michael Barron, Todd Bonlarron, Angela Cortesio, Todd Dahlstrom, Andrea Dill, Christine DiRocco, Keith and Caroline Epstein, Eric Forti, Robin and Lee Kantor, Brent and Sharon Kirstein, Taniel and Arsine Koushakjian, Gary and Linda Lachman, David Nichols, Philip Reagan, Steve and Isora Sherman, Alan and Goldie Stopek, Julie Tavel Weiler, Erika and Adam Wolek, Kenneth and Judith Wolosoff, Rachelle and Todd Wolosoff, Aaron and Stella Wormus and his many friends and family

FLORY CARDINALE from Susan Cardinale

BURTON FISHER from Arlyn and David Bamberger

SYLVIA GREENE from Stacey Greene Black

MARGARITA I. MUIÑA from Margaret Donnelley and her many friends and family

SARAH PIETRAFESA from Amy and Anthony Pietrafesa, Richard C. Pietrafesa, Joseph J. Pietrafesa and her many friends and family

KENNETH ROGERS from JoAnne Berkow, Ronni Selko and his many friends and family

VOLUNTEER

Join the Palm Beach Symphony family and make a difference! Whether you’re helping at concerts, assisting in the office, supporting symphony events, or engaging in education and community outreach, your time and talents help bring the joy of music to life.

SCAN BELOW TO SIGN UP AND START VOLUNTEERING TODAY!

Learn more by scanning the QR code:

MEMBERSHIP

BECOME A MEMBER OF PALM BEACH SYMPHONY

BENEFITS FOR ALL MEMBERS

Priority seating in premier sections at Masterworks Concerts (select areas in the orchestra and grand tier levels)

Access to Annual Gala

Access to Season Kickoff Party

Access to Sunset Dinner Cruise

Pre-Concert Dining

Complimentary Valet

Recognition in Program Books

Complimentary Single Ticket Exchanges

Advanced Single Ticket Purchase

Scan to read more about more elevated membership benefits:

Hosted at Center For Philanthropy: Home Of Palm Beach Symphony 700 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

SYMPHONY SESSIONS 1:

Date: Thursday, November 6

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Featuring: Claudio Jaffé, Principal Cello

SYMPHONY SESSIONS 2:

Date: Thursday, December 11

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Featuring: Claudio Jaffé, Principal Cello

SYMPHONY SESSIONS 3:

Date: Thursday, January 8

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Featuring: Harris Han, Assistant Conductor

SYMPHONY SESSIONS 4:

Date: Thursday, Feb. 26

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Featuring: Gerard Schwarz, Music Director

SYMPHONY SESSIONS 5:

Date: Thursday, April 16

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Featuring: Harris Han, Assistant Conductor

SYMPHONY SESSIONS 6:

Date: Thursday, May 14

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Featuring: Gerard Schwarz, Music Director

Learn more by scanning the QR code:

SUPPORT THE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY

When you make a gift, you become a valued member of our donor family, supporting our organization’s mission and facilitating the expansion of our orchestral performances featuring world-class guest artists. Moreover, your contribution extends beyond the stage, enabling us to provide essential music education and community outreach programs. These initiatives are pivotal in fostering collaboration, communication, memory retention, critical thinking, a strong work ethic, and creativity in young minds.

Tucked beneath the palms, discover a members club like no other. A private golden beach, world-class dining, a sublime spa—your home from sunrise to sunset and for generations to come.

Discover a reimagined coastal destination at the all-new Beach Club.

To inquire about The Boca Raton Club membership call 855.421.3223 or visit TheBocaRatonClub.com